Candidate lists of parties reflect ‘family first’ across political spectrum in Odisha
The allocation of tickets by the three principal parties in Odisha — Biju Janata Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Congress — demonstrates the influence of dynastic ties across the political spectrum.
Fatherson and fatherdaughter duos feature in the Congress list of candidates for 49 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats. Bhakta Charan Das, chairman of the Congress campaign committee, is slated to contest the upcoming Assembly election from Narla in Kalahandi district while his son, Sagar Charan Das has been fielded from Bhawanipatna in the same district.
Bhujabal Majhi has received the party’s nod as the Lok Sabha candidate for Nabarangpur parliamentary constituency; his daughter, Lipika Majhi, will make her electoral debut from Dabugam Assembly seat.
Samarendra Mishra, son of Congress leader Narasingha Mishra, will contest from his father’s Assembly constituency after failing to emerge on top in Balangir Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
On the BJP side, former State party chief and incumbent Kalahandi MP Basant Panda has also vacated his traditional Nuapada Assembly seat for son Abhinandan Kumar Panda. In neighbouring Balangir district, the party has again reposed faith in the husbandwife duo of Kanak Bardhan Singhdeo (Patnagarh Assembly seat) and Sangeeta Kumar Singh Deo (Balangir Lok Sabha seat).
The BJD list is no exception. Sunil Mohanty and Biplab Patro, sons of deceased BJD Ministers Maheswar Mohanty and Surjya Narayan Patro, have been fielded from Puri and Digapahandi Assembly seats. Minister Usha Devi’s son Chinmayananda Srirup Deb will fight on a BJD ticket from Chikiti Assembly seat. Arabinda Mohapatra, son of former BJD leader Bijoy Mohapatra, gets a lookin, as does Ankit Pratap Jena, son of former Minister Pratap Jena, from Mahanga Assembly seat.
Father-son and father-daughter duos feature in Congress list of candidates for 49 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats
BJD repeats candidate
The BJD has repeated the candidature of Koushalya Hikaka, wife of former party MP Jhina Hikaka, for Koraput Lok Sabha constituency. Pritiranjan Ghadei, Kalikesh Singhdeo, Debiranjan Tripathy, Dipali Das, and Souvic Biswal, whose fathers were once veteran BJD leaders, have already established themselves in the party.