Congress Puri Candidate Withdraws Candidature Due Party Denied Funding (image-twitter/Sucharita4Puri)

As the Lok Sabha election nears its third phase scheduled to be held on May 7, Congress Puri candidate Sucharita Mohanty has declined to contest the election. She has cited the reason for her withdrawal to be the denial of funding.

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. 

“Since I could not raise funds on my own, I appealed to the party to provide me funds. When my efforts didn’t pay off, I declined to contest,” said Mohanty. 

Mohanty also said that she has approached the party”s central leadership since she couldn”t raise funds on her own.