NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named its candidates for the upcoming byelections for the Punjab Assembly and the Odisha Parliament on Wednesday.

On May 10, by-elections are set to be held in the Lok Sabha district of Jalandhar (SC) in Punjab and the Assembly district of Jharsuguda in Odisha. The results will be announced on May 13, the same day as the Assembly elections in Karnataka.

Sardar Indar Iqbal Singh Atwal and Tankadhar Tripathy, respectively, have been nominated by the BJP for the Jalandhar (SC) and Jharsuguda byelections. The party's Central Election Committee announced both names on Wednesday night.

Since Congressman Santokh Chaudhary passed away in January after collapsing while walking with Rahul Gandhi on the Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 14, the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat has been vacant. A heart arrest caused his death. In the wake of Chaudhary's passing, byelections had to be held in the seat.

Tankadhar will face Dipali Das of the BJD and Tarun Pandey of the Congress in the race for the Jalandhar by-elections, which has been declared for Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, Santokh Chaudhary's wife.

According to a statement released by the party last month, "Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary as the party candidate to contest the upcoming by-election to the Lok Sabha from 4-Jalandhar-SC parliamentary constituency of Punjab."

The byelection in Jharsuguda, Odisha, was forced by the death of Naba Das, the previous state health minister, who was killed on January 29 this year after being shot at point-blank range in broad daylight in Jharsugud district by a police officer.

Sushil Rinku joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on April 5 in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, just hours after being kicked out of the Congress.

Sushil Rinku, a former Congress MLA from the Jalandhar West constituency, was dismissed from the party by the Congress party for engaging in "anti-party" actions.

In a news conference, Arvind Kejriwal said, "Sushil Rinku is welcome in the AAP's family. I have full hope that the people of Jalandhar will help us in winning the Lok Sabha bypolls."

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