Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state.Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, in a video message, announced names for 71 assembly segments and 15 Lok Sabha constituencies. Of the 15 Lok Sabha candidates, 8 are new candidates while seven have been repeated.Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency in Western Odisha will now witness a high profile fight as the BJD announced to field party’s organisational general secretary Pranab Prakash Das to fight against the Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) heavyweight candidate Dharmendra Pradhan.Pradhan (54), the son of former Union minister Debendra Pradhan. He was elected to Odisha Legislative Assembly from Pallahara seat in 2000. He had won Lok Sabha polls from Deogarh in 2004. He was the national president of BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha from 2004 to 2006. However, Pradhan lost the Assembly elections in Odisha in 2009.Pradhan was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar in 2012. He had served as the Union minister of petroleum and natural gas in the BJP-led government at the Centre from 2014-2019.Pradhan was once again elected to the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh in 2018 and given the charge of the ministry of education when the BJP formed government at the Centre for the second consecutive term in 2019.Das (51), the son of former Korei MLA and influential Janata Dal leader Ashok Das, was elected to Odisha Assembly from Jajpur seat thrice in a row since 2009. He had served as a minister in the BJD government in the state a few years ago.Das, an influential BJD leader, had reportedly announced that he would take on Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan if the latter contests from any Lok Sabha seat in Odisha. Das will contest the Lok Sabha elections for the first time in his career.The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, which announced its first list of nine candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha polls today, has given tickets to some of its prominent youth leaders including Das.The party has fielded former MLA Ansuman Mohanty (40), the son of former minister Nalinikanta Mohanty, from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat. Mohanty, a first-timer in Lok Sabha polls, will take on BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda. Ansuman had been elected to Odisha Assembly on a Congress ticket in 2014. He recently resigned from Congress party and joined BJD. The BJD has denied ticket to sitting Kendrapara MP and actor-turned-politician Anubhav Mohanty.Former MP Pradeep Kumar Majhi (48), son of former Rajya Sabha MP Bhagaban Majhi, has been given BJD ticket from Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat. Majhi had been elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket in 2009. He had also served as Congress youth wing president and party’s executive president in Odisha before joining the BJD.Hockey India president Dillip Tirkey (47) has been picked by the BJD to contest against senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Jual Oram from Sundargarh seat.The BJD has chosen Manmath Routray (Around 45), the son of former Minister and Jatni Congress MLA Suresh Kumar Routray, to fight against sitting MP and BJP national spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha segment. Manmath, a former pilot, will make his debut in the electoral politics.Kausalya Hikaka (38), the wife of former MP Jhina Hikaka, has been given the BJD ticket from Koraput seat.Here is the list of Assembly and Lok Sabha candidates announced by the BJD supremo:NAMES OF ASSEMBLY CANDIDATESJagannath Saraka- BissamkatakRaghunath Gamango- GunpurAnusaya Majhi- RayagadaDebesh Acharya- BargarhRita Sahoo- BijepurSnehangini Churia- AtabiraSusanta Singh- BhatliAshiwni Patra- JaleswarSubhasini Jena- BastaSanjib Mallick- BhandaripokariPrafulla Samal- BhadrakBishnubrata Routray- BasudevpurSanjay Das- DhamnagarByomkesh Ray- ChandbaliPramila Malik- BijharpurPranab Balbantray- DharmasalaSujata Sahoo- JajpurPritiranjan Ghadei- SukindaSudhir Samal- DhenkanalPrafulla Mallick- KamakshyanagarNursingha Sahoo- ParjangMukesh Pal- PallaharaSushant Kumar Behera- ChendipadaNiranjan Pujari – SonepurNihar Behera- LoisinghaSaroj Meher- PatnagarhKalikesh Nayarayan Singh Deo – BolangirTukuni Sahu- TitilagarhRajendra Dholakia- NuapadaNabina Nayak- UmerkoteRamesh Majhi- JharigaonKaushalya Pradhani- NabarangpurManohar Randhari- DabugaonPradip Dishari- LanjigarhDibyashankar Mishra- JunagarhPuspendra SinghDeo- DharmagarhLatika Nayak- BhawanipatnaSaluga Pradhan- G UdaygiriMahidhar Rana- KantamalPradip Amat- BoudhDebi Prasad Mishra- BadambaDebi Tripathy- BankiSauvik Biswal- Cuttack-ChoudwarRanendra Pratap Swain- AthagarhPramod Mallick- NialiChandra Sarathi Behera- Cuttack-SadarArvind Mohapatra- PatkuraPratap Deb- AulDhruba Sahu- RajnagarAtanu Sabyasachi Nayak- MahakalpadaSunil Mohanty- PuriUma Samantaray- BrahmagiriSanjay Dasburma- SatyabadiRudrapratap Maharathy- PipiliBibhuti Balbantray- JatniSatyanarayan Pradhan- RanpurRamesh Behera- DaspallaArun Sahoo- NayagarhBikram Keshari Arukh- BhanjanagarSrikant Sahoo- PolsaraLatika Pradhan- KabisuryanagarSubhash Behera- ChhatrapurSanghamitra Swain- SoradaNaveen Patnaik- HinjiliBikram Panda- GopalpurBiplab Patra- DigapahandiChanmanya Nanda- ChikitiChandrasekhar Majhi- KotpadRaghuram- KoraputManas Madkami- MalkangiriBadrinarayan Patra- GhasipuraBJD LOK SABHA CANDIDATES:Sambalpur: Pranab Prakash DasSundargarh: Dilip TirkeyMayurbhanj: Sudam MarndiKendrapada: Anshuman MohantyNabarangpur: Pradeep MajhiBhubaneswar: Manmath RoutrayKoraput: Kausalaya HikakaAska: Ranjita SahooKalahandi: Lambodar NialPuri: Arup PatnaikJajpur: Sarmistha SethyDhenkanal: Abinash SamalJagatsinghpur: Rajashree MallickKandhamal: Achyuta SamantCuttack: Santrupta Mishra
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