Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD on Friday named Sambit Routray for the Paradip assembly constituency, currently held by his father and veteran leader Damodar Rout, who recently joined BJP and vowed to dethrone the Naveen Patnaik government in the polls.Interestingly, Damodar will fight the polls on BJP ticket from the adjacent Balikuda-Erasama seat, from where he had made his electoral debut in 1977. The seven-time MLA and former minister, who was expelled from BJD in September last year, joined the saffron party on March 14.Naveen, while announcing the names of candidates for 18 more assembly segments, denied tickets to seven sitting MLAs.Despite Damodar’s recent outburst against Naveen, the chief minister had recently visited the former’s residence to condole the death of his wife, Snehalata.“I have clarified that I have nothing to do with my father’s decision to join BJP and have always been a disciplined worker of BJD. I thank the BJD president for reposing faith in me,” Sambit said.The party has changed maximum MLAs in the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, where it was almost routed during the 2017 panchayat polls.Jashipur MLA Mangal Singh Mudi has been replaced by Golekh Bihari Nayak, a local BJD leader. The ruling party has fielded Amar Singh Tudu in place of sitting MLA Bhadav Hansdah in Saraskana.While the party reposed faith in former BJD MLA Shrinath Soren replacing sitting MLA Golak Bihari Naik in Udala —, sitting legislator Ganeswar Patra has been picked for the Badasahi seat in place of Brundaban Das.Former minister Sudam Marndi is the only leader in Mayunbhanj district who has been repeated from the Bangriposi assembly constituency.The veteran leader and five-time MLA from Bhadrak, Jugal Kishore Pattnaik, has also been denied ticket as the party fielded Sanjeev Mallik from the seat.Former MLA Bibhuti Bhusan Balabataray has been named as the party’s candidate for the Jatani assembly constituency in place of sitting MLA Bhagirathi Badajena. Both Patnaik and Badajena have been denied tickets because of their old age, sources said.Reena Tanty, who recently joined the party along with her husband, is the lone woman candidate in the list fielded from Rengali in place of sitting MLA Ramesh Patua.Heavyweights who have been repeated include revenue minister Maheswar Mohanty (Puri), sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera (Cuttack-Sadar), government chief whip Amar Prasad Satpathy (Barchana) and Debashish Samantaray (Barabati-Cuttack).Senior leader Bishnu Das, who had lost the polls from the Jagatsinghpur assembly seat, shifted to Tirtol as sitting legislator Rajashree Mallick has been fielded from the Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seat.Dhruba Sahoo, another defeated candidate from Rajnagar under the crucial Kendrapada parliamentary segment, has been repeated from the seat.Besides the father-son duo, two daughters — Sunita and Amita of former chief minister Hemananda Biswal will fight the polls on two different party tickets. While Sunita is contesting on BJD ticket from the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat, Congress has roped in Amita for the Sundargarh assembly seat.

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