BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) announced Alaka Mohanty as its candidate for the bypoll in Odisha's Jharsuguda district's Brajarajnagar Assembly seat on Monday.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik has nominated Alaka for the race, said Manas Ranjan Mangaraj, the party's general secretary (media affairs).  Following the sudden death of BJD's Kishore Mohanty in December, a bypoll was called.  Alaka is his widow. 

Alaka expressed gratitude to Patnaik for choosing her for the bypoll. "The government of Navien Patnaik has proposed a number of projects, ranging from childbirth to death. She stated that these schemes would be presented to the people.  The BJP picked former MLA Radharani Panda as its bypoll candidate on Sunday.

Panda was elected to the Odisha Assembly in 2014, defeating BJD candidate Anup Kumar Sai in the Brajarajnagar constituency. During the recent Assembly elections in 2019, she was defeated by BJD's Kishore Mohanty by 11,634 votes. Panda has been granted a second opportunity by the saffron party.

The candidates for the seat have yet to be announced by Congress. According to sources, the party is expected to select former Speaker Kishore Patel for the by-election. The by-election for the Assembly seat has been set for May 31, 2022, by the Indian Election Commission. Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. The deadline for submitting nomination papers is May 11. On May 12, the nominations will be reviewed, and contenders will have until May 17 to withdraw their candidacy. On June 3, the votes will be counted.

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