BHUBANESWAR: Amid unabated exodus from Party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday announced names of the party candidates for the first two phases of 2019 general polls and Assembly elections in Odisha.

The list contained names of nine candidates of Lok Sabha polls and 54 nominees for the Assembly elections.

In the first phase, Odisha will go to polls for four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly seats on April 11 while elections will be there for five Lok Sabha seats and 35 Assembly seats in the second phase on April 18.

Odisha chief minister and the BJD president Naveen Patnaik will contest from two seats – Bijepur in Bargarh district and Hinjili in Ganjam district. “I will contest from Bijepur and Hinjli.

“Our party will do well in the elections,” Naveen said while announcing the first list of candidates for 54 assembly seats and nine Lok Sabha constituencies. The list reveals that the BJD has mainly dropped the MLAs who have lost by a narrow margin of votes or won narrowly in the range of 0.5 per cent to 2.05 per cent in 2014 elections.

Of the nine Lok Sabha candidates, 8 are new faces. Bolangir MP Kalikesh Singhdeo has been re-nominated to try his luck for the second term. Noted educationist Dr Achyuta Samanta has been nominated to contest from Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.