Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: Union minister and BJP leader Jual Oram filed his nomination for the Sundargarh LS constituency on Tuesday.Several other heavyweights also filed nominations on Tuesday, the last day to do so for the second phase of elections to be held on April 18 in five parliamentary and 35 assembly constituencies. Many leaders sought divine blessing before filing their papers.For the Sundargarh LS seat, Congress candidate George Tirkey and BJD nominee Sunita Biswal, daughter of senior Congress leader and former chief minister Hemanand Biswal, filed their nominations amid a show of strength.“I have been with the people of Sundargarh though thick and thin and know how various development initiatives of the Modi government have benefited the people of the district. They are going to re-elect me with a bigger margin this time,” Oram said.The BJD’s Sunita said, “The party has a strong organisational base in the district and people like chief minister Naveen Patnaik.”George, a tribal leader and sitting MLA of Biramitrapur assembly constituency, said, “The people of Sundargarh are hoping for a change as they are fed up with the performances of the Modi and the Naveen governments.”Five Lok Sabha constituencies — Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir, Kandhamal and Aska — will go to the polls on April 18.Former MP Kharabela Swain filed nomination for the Kandhamal LS seat as a BJP candidate. He is pitted against BJD’s Achyuta Samanta, founder of KIIT and KISS, in the tribal-dominated constituency.BJP candidates Pitambar Acharya and Sanat Gartia, who will contest against Naveen at Hinjili and Bijepur, respectively, also filed their papers on Tuesday. Acharya was accompanied by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Damodar Rout.Other leaders who filed their nomination included BJP candidate for Balangir LS seat Sangeeta Singh Deo and BJP’s Patnagarh assembly candidate K V Singhdeo. The BJD’s candidate for Balangir assembly seat Arkesh Narayan Singh Deo also filed his papers on Tuesday, as did the party’s sitting MLA Tukuni Sahu (Titilagarh assembly seat) and Kishore Mohanty (Brajarajnagar).

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