Hours after announcing the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, the BJD released the second list of the candidates. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the names of the candidates for six more Lok Sabha seats.
The ruling party has fielded Arup Patnaik in the Puri Lok Sabha seat, Sharmistha Sethi in the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat, Rajashree Mallick in Jagathsinghpur, Abinash Samal in Dhenkanal, Achyutananda Samant in Kandhamal and Santrupt Mishra in Cuttack.
After BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab recently resigned from the party, Santrupt Mishra has been chosen for the prestigious Cuttack LS seat where the BJP has not yet announced its candidates.
Speaking to the media, BJD's Puri MP nominee Arup Patnaik, who has been pitted against BJP’s Sambit Patra said, "Today is an auspicious day as the Chief Minister has given me a chance to contest from the Srikshetra Puri Lok Sabha seat. I belong to Delang in Puri. I am lucky and thanked the Chief Minister for giving me the chance to contest from Puri.”