Congress has kicked off its campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in Odisha by releasing its initial list of candidates, comprising 49 names.
Bijay Patnaik has been nominated for the Paralakhemundi Assembly seat, while Samarendra Mishra will contest from Bolangir. Tankadhar Sahu, Anil Meher, Nipon Kumar Dash, and Naba Kumar Mishra are among the other candidates fielded by the party from Padampur, Patnagarh, Bargarh, and Boudh respectively.
This announcement comes shortly after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled its first list of 112 candidates for the Odisha assembly polls. Notable mentions from the BJP’s list include Jayanta Kumar Sarangi from Puri, Prakash Chandra Sethi from Cuttack Sadar, and Jagannath Pradhan from Bhubaneswar Central. Additionally, Sisir Mishra has been fielded from Hinjili, where he will face BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Odisha is set to witness simultaneous elections to 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, scheduled in four phases commencing May 13.
In the 2019 Odisha Assembly polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) emerged victorious with 112 seats, while the BJP secured 23 seats and the Congress saw a decline from 16 to 9 seats. Similarly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJD secured the maximum seats with 12, followed by the BJP with 8 seats and the Congress with one.
The Lok Sabha elections in Odisha are slated to occur in four phases, with voting scheduled for May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. Simultaneously, the voting for the Odisha legislative assembly will also take place in four phases on the same dates, with the counting of votes scheduled for June 4.
