BJD Drops 6 Sitting MLAs Including 2 Ex-Ministers in Its 6th Candidates’ List

Bhubaneswar: In the sixth list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Odisha declared on Saturday, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) dropped six sitting MLAs including two former ministers.

The dropped old guards of the BJD included former ministers Amar Prasad Satapathy and Sashi Bhusan Behera. Both these incumbent MLAs were denied party tickets to contest for the Assembly polls.

Sitting MLAs Bhagirathy Sethy, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Minakhi Mohanta and Sudhansu Sekhar Parida were also dropped from the list of BJD candidates.

Of the nine candidates nominated for party tickets in the sixth list, four were women candidates.

Prominent among those who were given party tickets included Congress deserter Ganeswar Behera, a former minister in the former Congress government.

The candidates included Odia film star Varsha Priyadarshini, who replaced six-time MLA Amar Prasad Satapathy.

The regional party also named former MLA Sanatan Mahakud as its candidate from the mineral-rich Champua Assembly seat in Keonjhar district.