On 27th March, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) announced the second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Interestingly, the party dropped sitting MP Pinaki Mishra from Puri. Two lists of candidates were announced on the same day. The first list contained nine names, while the second contained six.
From Puri, BJD has fielded Arup Patnaik for the Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has fielded Sambit Patra to contest the Puri Lok Sabha seat.
In the first list, names of Lambodar Nial for Kalahandi, Pranab Prakash Das for Sambalpur, Dilip Tirkey for Sundergarh, Sudam Marndi for Mayurbhanj, Ansuman Mohanty for Kendrapara, Pradip Kumar Majhi for Nabarangpur, Manmath Routray for Bhubaneswar, Kausalya Hikaka for Koraput and Ranjita Sahu for Aska were announced.
For the second list, Arup Patnaik for Puri, Sharmishtha Sethi for Jaipur, Rajashree Mallick for Jagathsighpur, Abinash Samal for Dhenkanal, Achyutananada Samant for Kandhamal and Santrupt Mishra for Cuttak were named by the party.
Pinaki Mishra was named in ‘Mahuagate’
Notably, Pinaki Mishra’s name appeared in Mahuagate. In his affidavit, Darshan Hiranandani, the Dubai-based businessman who gave cash and gifts in exchange for queries in Lok Sabha, claimed that she bonded exceptionally well with the opposition leaders, including Shashi Tharoor, Pinaki Mishra and Rahul Gandhi. Hiranandani added he, too, thought he could use her clout to get support from opposition leaders, which is why he gave her expensive gifts and fulfilled all her unreasonable demands, ranging from gifting her expensive luxury items, providing support on the renovation of her officially allotted bungalow in Delhi, travel expenses, holidays, etc, apart from giving secretarial and logistical help for her travels within India and to different parts of the world.
Pinaki Mishra is a four-term MP from Puri. When his name appeared in the case, BJP sought an explanation from Chief Minister and BJP President Naveen Patnaik over the matter. Pinaki quickly rejected the allegations and warned BJP Odisha of legal action. He said, “It’s unfortunate that the BJP Odisha has deemed it fit to make a false attack on me based on a malicious and utterly unproven allegation floating in the public domain.”
Interestingly, Mishra, a senior advocate, represented Mahua Moitra in court, appealing to let her stay in the government bungalow after she was expelled from Lok Sabha and received a notice to vacate the bungalow.
Advocate Jai Anant, who had brought allegations of cash-for-query scam against Mahua Moitra had even alluded in a post that Mahua Moitra, after she was asked to vacate her government bungalow, had ‘moved in’ with Mishra.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024
The polling for Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is scheduled to begin on 16th April 2024. The polling in Odisha will occur in four phases: 13th May 2024, 20th May 2024, 25th May 2024, and 1st June 2024. Odisha is also scheduled to have assembly elections. The results for both Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be announced on 4th June 2024.