98 candidates in fray for 11 LS seats in Odisha

Union Minister Srikant Jena, former Union Minister Arjun Sethi and and sitting BJD MP Baijayant Panda are among 98 candidates left in the fray for 11 Lok Sabha seats.
Besides, there are 747 aspirants for 77 Assembly constituencies for the second phase of polls in Odisha on April 17, official sources said here today.
Jena is seeking re-election from Balasore Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket, while Sethi is contesting as BJD candidate from the Bhadrak LS seat.
Panda is seeking re-election as a BJD nominee from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, while his party colleague Tathagat Satpathy is contesting as BJD candidate from the Dhenkanal parliamentary constituency.

The last day for withdrawal of nomination for the second phase polls had ended on Saturday when three nominees for Lok Sabha and 37 for Assembly elections pulled out of the race, sources in Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office said.
Out of the 105 nomination papers filed for the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies, 101 had been found valid after scrutiny. As three candidates withdrew their nomination, now there are 98 aspirants for the 11 LS seats.
Similarly, a total of 832 candidates had filed nominations for 77 Assembly seats. While the papers of 784 candidates were found valid, 37 of them withdrew their candidature, sources said.

The first phase Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are being held in Odisha on April 10. A total of 668 candidates remained in the fray for the 70 Assembly seats while there are 98 candidates in the fray for 10 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of polls.