Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which unveiled its first list of nominees first is yet to pick up suitable candidates for three Assembly seats.
The party, which had never taken so long to announce its candidates in the past elections, is yet to announce nominees for Kendrapara, Champua and Baripada Assembly seats.
According to sources, the BJD leadership has been facing it hard to select suitable candidates for the three seats as at least two senior leaders are contenders for each seat.
The party may field either sitting MLA Kishore Chandra Tarai or former MLA Sipra Mallick for the Kendrapara seat. According to insiders, the party is considering to introduce Sipra’s sister to the seat. The party may rope in Ramani Nayak or Kusha Apata for Champua whereas the names of Rajya Sabha member Sarojini Hembram and MLA Sudam Marandi are doing the rounds for Baripada seat.
Meanwhile, the party is planning to change its candidates for four to five seats. Following the induction of BJP’s Kakatpur candidate Tusharkanti Behera into the BJD, it is considering to field him by replacing Surendra Sethi.
According to speculations, the party is likely to alter Niali nominee Pramod Mallick and field Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera.
Following protests by Bhadrak MLA Jugal Kishore Patnaik, the party is contemplating to replace its nominee Sanjeev Mallick and field his son to the seat.
As the candidate for Patakura, Bed Prakash Agarwalla is indisposed, the leadership may nominate his son or another fresher to the seat. Agarwalla’s wife and son are reported to have visited Naveen Niwas but could not obtain the ticket.
