Odisha assembly polls: Congress replaces five candidates

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Odisha Assembly polls, the Congress party on Sunday changed its candidates in five assembly constituencies and also announced its candidate for Nilagiri constituency.

The grand old party nominated Akshaya Acharya as its candidate for Nilagiri Assembly constituency.

The Congress has changed its candidates for Jaleswar, Bari, Athamalik, Athagarh, and Puri Assembly segments.

It has fielded Sudarshan Das from Jaleswar by replacing Debi Prasanna Chand. Similarly, the party has fielded Debasis Nayak, who joined the Congress after quitting the BJP recently, from Bari replacing Arati Deo.

Additionally, the grand old party fielded Himanshu Chaulia from Athamalik in place of Bijayananda Chaulia, Sudarshan Sahoo from Athagarh in place of Maheboob Ahemad and Uma Ballav Rath from Puri in place of Sujit Mohapatra.

Notably, the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha will be held simultaneously in four phases — May 13, 20, 25, and June 1. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.