BJD harps on new faces for Lok Sabha; Arup Patnaik to take on Aparajita in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced names of party candidates for nine Lok Sabha constituencies, which included seven new faces.

Announcing the list of candidates at Naveen Niwas, Patnaik said IPS officer and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Mohan Patnaik will be contesting the polls from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat. Arup Patnaik will be contesting against BJP candidate Aparajita Sarangi.

The party fielded actor Anubhav Mohanty from Kendrapara seat whereas former bureaucrat Nalini Kanta Pradhan will be contesting on BJD ticket from Sambalpur constituency. Mohanty will be facing BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda in the coastal Odisha constituency.

While Sarmistha Sethi is given the party ticket for Jajpur constituency, Manjulata Mandal has been fielded from Bhadrak seat. Debasish Marandi and Rajashree Mallick will be contesting from Mayurbhanj and Jagatsinghpur seats respectively.

Pinaki Mishra and Rabindra Kumar Jena have been re-nominated from Puri and Balasore Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Naveen Patnaik also announced that sitting Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

The party also announced candidates for 36 Assembly seats today.

Rajani Kant Singh has been fielded from Angul seat whereas Sudhir Kumar Samal will be contesting from Dhenkanal assembly constituency. Prafulla Kumar Mallick will contest from Kamakhynagar, Simarani Nayak Hindol and Sanjay Das Burma from Brahmagiri.

Other prominent names that have been offered Assembly tickets are Pratap Deb (Aul), Badri Narayan Patra (Ghasipura), Pratap Jena (Mahanga), Ananta Das (Bhograi), Ashok Panda (Ekamra-Bhubaneswar), Prafulla Samal (Bhandaripokhar), Arun Sahoo (Nayagarh), Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak (Mahakalpada), Bed Prakash Agarwal (Patkura) and Sanjay Kumar Das Burma (Brahmagiri).