LS polls in Odisha: Hunt on for 4 more women candidates

BHUBANESWAR: Keeping to his promise of reserving 33 per cent of the Lok Sabha seat tickets for women, chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik has already fielded three women for the nine parliamentary constituencies going to the polls in the first and second phases. The party is now working to rope in four more women for the remaining 12 seats.

The BJD has fielded women in Sundargarh,

Koraput

and Aska Lok Sabha seats. It has fielded Class II dropout and SHG leader Pramila Bisoyi from Aska, from where chief minister Naveen Patnaik started his political career.

In Sundargarh, Sunita, the daughter of former chief minister Hemanand Biswal, is the party’s candidate while Kausalya Hikaka left her teaching job to replace her husband and outgoing MP Jhina in Koraput Lok Sabha seat.

Insiders in BJD said, out of the remaining 12 seats, Jajpur and

Jagatsinghpur

would go to women. “A senior state government officer working with the finance department recently resigned. She is expected to be the BJD candidate for Jajpur Lok Sabha seat,” said a party source. In Jagatsinghpur, BJD may pick from among Tirtol MLA Rajashree Mallick or women’s wing president Minati Behera.

The BJD may also field women in Balasore, Keonjhar or Mayurbhanj seats. The name of Subasini Jena, wife of outgoing

Balasore

MP Rabindra Jena, is doing the rounds for Balasore. “After Naveen announced that he would reserve seats for women, we have received several applications from women seeking candidature from BJD. Our party president will take a call at the right time,” said a senior BJD functionary, requesting anonymity.

The BJD has retained only one MP (Kalikesh Singh Deo) in the nine seats going to the polls in the first two phases. Party sources said it might field new faces in the remaining 12 seats.