Odisha Lok Sabha Election 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced candidates for 18 out of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, in its fifth list of 111 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The saffron party has dropped four sitting MPs. The nominees for Cuttack, Jajpur and Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituencies are yet to be named by the party.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will be contesting from Sambalpur seat.
The party has fielded four women - Aparajita Sarangi (Bhubaneswar), Sangeeta Kumari Deo (Bolangir), Malvika Keshari Deo (Kalahandi) and Anita Subhadarshini (Aska).
The party has nominated Pradeep Purohit in place of Pujari while Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan replaced Nitish Gang Deb in Sambalpur.
Rairangpur MLA Naba Charan Majhi has replaced Bisheswar Tudu in Mayurbhaj seat. Malvika Keshari Deo is made the new candidate in place of Basant Kumar Panda in Kalahandi LS seat.
The sitting MPs who have been retained are Jual Oram (Sundergarh), Pratap Chandra Sarangi (Balasore), Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo (Bolangir) and Aparajita Sarangi (Bhubaneswar).
The other BJP candidates are Ananta Nayak (Keonjhar), Abhimanyu Sethi (Bhadrak), Rudra Pany (Dhenkanal), Baijayant Panda (Kendrapara), Balabhadra Majhi (Nabarangpur), Bibhu Tarai (Jagatsinghpur ), Sambit Patra (Puri), Pradeep Panigrahy (Berhampur) and Kaliram Majhi (Koraput).
The sitting MPs who were denied BJP tickets this time are Suresh Pujari (Bargarh), Union Minister Bisheswar Tudu (Mayrbhanj), Nitish Gang Deb (Sambalpur) and Basant Panda (Kalahandi).
With inputs from PTI
