Congress Replaces Puri Candidate, Jay Narayan Patnaik New Face

Congress today named Jay Narayan Patnaik as its candidate in place of Sucharita Mohanty as its candidate as the latter withdrew from the competition due to fund crunch.

The voting for the Puri Lok Sabha seat and seven assemblies is scheduled to be held on May 25. The deadline for filing a nomination is May 6. Meanwhile, BJPs Arup Patnaik and Sambit Patra have already filed their nomination papers.

Mohanty on Saturday said, “I wrote a mail to the party brass on Friday night, conveying my decision not to contest due to zero funding from the party. I have returned the party ticket”.

Due to the shortage of funding, Mohanty recently launched a crowdfunding campaign, seeking donations to contest the election. She has shared a UPI QR code on her social media handles, asking for money. Mohanty said she was forced to rope in donors as bank accounts of the grand old party were already frozen.

“I was denied funds from the party. In Assembly segments, weak candidates were given tickets. The BJP and BJD are sitting on a mountain of money. It was difficult. A vulgar display of wealth is everywhere. I don’t want to compete that way,” she said.

She, in her mail, wrote that without party crowdfunding, it won’t be possible to carry out the campaign in Puri.