Lok Sabha Elections: Dharmendra Pradhan to contest from Odisha's Sambalpur constituency

Dharmendra Pradhan. Photo/ANI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday, announced Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as the candidate from the Sambalpur constituency in Odisha. This announcement was part of the party's fifth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On his candidature, Pradhan expressed his gratitude to the party, saying, "I express my gratitude from the bottom of my heart to the party for this candidature. I have full confidence that the people of Sambalpur and Odisha will give the right answer to the trust that the party has shown."

In its fifth list, the BJP has announced the names of 111 candidates for the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP has also chosen Avimanyu Sethi to run for the Bhadrak seat and Pradeep Panigrahi for the Brahmapur seat in Odisha. Both of them are happy and thankful to the party leaders for their selection. Both leaders expressed their happiness and gratitude to the party leadership for their nominations.

Sethi, on his candidature, said, "I am very happy and want to express my gratitude to the central & state leadership...All the necessary work for the development and progress of the country will be done."

Panigrahi, said, "I am immensely happy that the Prime Minister and all other senior leaders recommended my name as an MP candidate from Brahmapur. It is a very important seat... Brahmapur has its own kind of culture and electioneering process. Hope the people of Barampur will bring a double-engine government in the state and also in the centre."

The Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, which comprise 21 constituencies, are set to take place in four phases. The voting dates have been scheduled for May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) emerged as the dominant party, securing 20 out of the 21 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a single seat.

However, the 2019 elections saw a shift in the political landscape. The BJD's seat count was reduced to 12, while the BJP made significant gains, winning 8 seats. This change marked a notable increase in the BJP's presence in the state. The Indian National Congress (INC) also managed to secure a seat in the 2019 elections.