The Congress on Sunday announced the names of 75 nominees for the upcoming assembly elections in Odisha, including Pruthvi Ballav Patnaik, son of former chief minister JB Patnaik, and Sushmita Singh Deo, a relative of former Union minister KP Singhdeo.
The party unveiled its second list of candidates for the assembly elections, which includes nine women among the 75 aspirants.
The list, signed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal, features several new faces and some former MLAs.
Changes were made to candidates in three assembly seats - Talsara, Baliguda, and Kabisuryanagar.
Former Indian Hockey skipper Prabodh Tirkey was replaced by Debendra Bhitaria in Talsara, while Upendra Pradhan replaced Surada Pradhan in Baliguda. Similarly, Bipin Bihari Swain took the place of Chiranjeevi Bisoyi in Kabisuryanagar.
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Former Aul MLA Debendra Sharma’s daughter Dr. Debasmita Sharma has been nominated in place of her father. Asit Patnaik, son of former MLA Jugal Patnaik, who recently joined the Congress after resigning from BJD, has been nominated for Bhadrak.
The party decided to drop two sitting MLAs from the list of candidates - Suresh Routray and Adhiraj Panigrahi.
Jatani MLA Routray had previously announced his decision not to contest the 2024 elections, while Khariar legislator Panigrahi resigned from the party and joined BJD.
He has been nominated by the BJD to contest from Khariar.
Among others, former Odisha Pradesh Congress (OPCC) presidents Niranjan Patnaik and Jaydev Jena will contest from Bhndareipokhari and Anandapur assembly constituencies, respectively. Former MLA Debasish Pattnaik will contest from Banki assembly segment.
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The Congress has named Rajanikanta Padhi as its candidate from Hinjili, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is also a nominee.
With this announcement, the Congress has named 119 out of the 147 candidates in the state. Two seats have been adjusted with CPI(M) and JMM.
