Bhubaneswar: Congress changes five Assembly candidates

Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Sunday changed its candidates in five Assembly constituencies in Odisha while naming Akshaya Acharya for Nilgiri Assembly seat. The party has nominated former minister and four-time MLA Debashish Nayak for Bari Assembly constituency, replacing Arati Deo. Nayak had joined the Congress on Saturday after BJP denied him a ticket.

Nayak had joined the BJP in February after quitting from the BJD. Nayak was elected from Bari Assembly seat in 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014 on BJD ticket.

Congress spokesperson Sudarshan Das has been nominated for Jaleswar Assembly constituency, replacing Debi Prasanna Chand. For the Athamallik Assembly segment, the party has fielded Himanshu Chaulia in place of Bijayananda Chaulia while Sujit Mahapatra has been replaced by Uma Ballav Rath for Puri Assembly segment. Sudarshan Sahoo is the new Congress nominee for Athagarh Assembly segment. The party had earlier nominated Maheboob Ahmad Khan for the seat.

On Saturday, the party changed its Puri Lok Sabha constituency candidate Sucharita Mohanty after she returned the ticket due to alleged lack of funding from the party. The Congress has nominated Jay Narayan Patnaik for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency.

With this list, the Congress party has announced candidates for 145 out of 147 Assembly segments in Odisha. The Congress has left one seat for JMM and another for CPI (M). The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1.