Bhubaneswar, (Reporterspen) April 23: Hours after being denied a ticket to contest the upcoming polls in Odisha, sitting Hindol MLA Simarani Nayak resigned from the primary membership of BJD on Monday.
In her resignation letter to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, the two-time MLA cited personal reasons for her decision to leave the party. She also expressed gratitude to the party supremo for the opportunity to serve the people of Hindol Assembly constituency in Dhenkanal for a decade.
The regional party has nominated Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo as its candidate from Hindol. Nayak, the incumbent legislator, secured victory in 2019 by defeating BJP candidate Ashok Kumar Nayak by a margin of almost 19,000 votes.
BJD has introduced five new faces in the six Assembly seats announced on Monday. Besides Simarani Nayak, sitting MLAs of Bari and Balikuda-Ersama – Sunanda Das and Raghunandan Das – have been replaced, while sitting Raghunathpali MLA Subrat Tarai has been substituted by his wife, Archanarekha. The party has also nominated Ranjita Marndi, wife of sitting Bangiriposi MLA Sudam Marndi, who is contesting from the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat. Tusharkanti Behera is the only sitting MLA in the list to receive a renomination from Kakatpur.
