Odisha Assembly Elections: BJP Announces 8 Candidates, Including 4 Defectors

The BJP on Saturday announced the names of eight more candidates for the assembly polls in Odisha, with four of them being former members of the ruling BJD who switched allegiance to the saffron party recently.

These turncoats are Seemarani Nayak (Hindol), Arindam Roy (Salipur), Geetanjali Sethi (Kendrapara), and Prasant Jagdev (Khurda). Jagdev, formerly a BJD MLA from Chilika, was ousted from the party before he joined the BJP. Roy is a popular Odia actor. The remaining candidates announced by the party are Fakir Mohan Naik (Telkoi), Murali Manohar Sharma (Champua), Rabindra Andia (Basta), and Banikalyan Mohanty (Basudevpur).

The saffron party has so far announced candidates for 140 out of the 147 assembly segments, the BJD has declared 141 candidates, while the Congress has put forth 138 aspirants for the polls, slated to be conducted in four phases from May 13 to June 1.

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