SHG leader Pramila Bisoi in Aska, Bikram Panda in Berhampur among other new faces in the First list of BJD,Naveen To Contest From Hinjli, Bijepur Assembly Seats

Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik announced Monday that he will contest from Bijepur in western Odisha apart from his traditional home turf Hinjili assembly constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

https://twitter.com/Naveen_Odisha/status/1107586846916145152

Patnaik had announced a day before that he was ‘seriously considering’ an appeal from ‘the leaders of Western Odisha, the farmers, the women, the students’ to contest the Assembly election from a constituency in the region.

We launched Mission Shakti 18 years ago for empowering the women of our State. Today it has grown way beyond our expectations and transformed into a silent revolution comprising 70 lakh women across the state.In a humble tribute to the lakhs of women in our Mission Shakti movement, we in Biju Janata Dal have declared Mrs Pramila Bisoi SHG leader to be the lok Sabha candidate from the Aska constituency. Incidentally Aska is the place where I had started my own political career 20 years ago.Mrs Bisoi, President Sata Sankha SHG has had long years of experience in the SHG movement. Widely respected, she is a grassroot leader in her own right. She has used her leadership to influence and create awareness on wide ranging issues like sanitation , vaccination, institutional delivery, environment protection, literacy etc.It is my firm belief that empowerment cannot be compartmentalised – it has to be holistic. Social, economic and political empowerment must go hand in hand. Women must be represented in the highest fora of decision making in the country. Mrs Bisoi represents Mission Shakti – the women’s SHG movement of Odisha.It will be personally very heartening for me to see a grassroot SHG leader, like Mrs Bisoi, in the hallowed halls of Parliament.

The BJD supremo’s decision to contest from western Odisha, a stronglold of BJP, assumes significance as the ruling BJD has not done well in this region compared to the rest of the state in the last two elections.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal Monday released candidates list for nine Lok Sabha and 54 of the 63 Assembly seats which will go to polls in the first two phases on April 11 and 18. Two sitting members of the Rajya Sabha have been fielded as Lok Sabha candidates. While Prasanna Acharya will contest from Bargarh, Achyuta Samant will fight from Kandhamal.

The party has fielded eight new candidates for the Lok Sabha including Sunita Biswal, the daughter of senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal who joined the party recently. She will contest from Sundergarh.

Names of Candidates:

1st Phase: April 11

Kalahandi Parliamentary Constituency (PC)- Pushpendra Singh Deo
Assembly seats:
Bhawanipatna- Dushmant Naik
Junagarh- Dibya Shankar Mishra
Dharmagarh- Mausudi Bag
Narla- Bhupinder Singh
Nuapada- Rajendra Dholakia
Khariar- Lamobdar Nial

Nabarangpur Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Ramesh Majhi
Assembly seats:
Umerkote – Subhas Gond
Dabugam- Manohar Randhari
Kotpad – Padmini Dian
Chitrakonda – Purna Chandra Baka
Nabarangpur – Sadashiv Pradhani

Berhampur Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Chandrasekhar Sahu
Assembly seats:
Chhatrapur – Subhas Chandra Behera
Gopalpur- Pradeep Panigrahi
Berhampur- Bikram Panda
Digapahandi- Surya Narayan Patro
Chikiti – Usha Devi
Paralakhemundi- Kalyani Gajapati
Mohana- Purnabasi Nayak

Koraput Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Koushalya Hikaka
Assembly seats:
Gunupur – Raghunath Gamang
Bissam Cuttack- Jagannath Saraka
Rayagada- Lal Bihari Himirika
Lakshmipur- Prabhu Jani
Koraput- Raghuram Padal
Jeypore- Rabi Narayan Nanda

2nd Phase: April 18

Aska Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Pramila Bisoi
Assembly seats:
Aska- Manjula Swain
Sorada- Purna Chandra Swain
Sanakhemundi- Nandini Devi
Hinjili- Naveen Patnaik
Polasara- Srikanta Sahu
Kabisuryanagar- Latika Pradhan
Khalikote- K K Suryamanl Baidya

Kandhamal Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Achyuta Samanta
Assembly seats:
Baliguda- Chakradhar Kanhar
G. Udaygiri- Saluga Pradhan
Boudh- Pradip Kumar Amat
Kandhamal- Mahidhar Rana
Bhanjanagar- Bikram Keshari Arukh
Daspalla- Ramesh Behera

Bolangir Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Kalikesh Singh Deo
Assembly seats:
Titlagarh- Tukuni Sahu
Patnagarh- Saroj Meher
Sonepur- Niranjan Pujari
Kantabanji- Ajay Das
Biramaharajpur- Padmanabha Behera

Bargarh Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Prasanna Acharya
Assembly seats:
Bargarh- Debesh Acharya
Attabira- Snehangini Chhuria
Bhatli- Susanta Singh
Padampur- Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha
Bijepur- Naveen Patnaik
Jharsuguda- Naba Kishore Das

Sundargarh Parliamentary Constituency (PC) – Sunita Biswal
Assembly seats:
Sundargarh- Jogesh Kumar Singh
Rajgangpur- Mangala Kishan
Talsara- Stephen Soren
Rourkela- Sarada Prasad Nayak
Ragunathpali- Subrat Tarai
Bonai- Ranjit Kishan