Puri: The Congress party has announced Jay Narayan Patnaik as its Lok Sabha candidate from Puri in Odisha. This decision comes after Sucharita Mohanty returned her ticket, citing the party's alleged denial of funding. In a statement, the Congress said, "The Congress President (Mallikarjun Kharge) has approved the candidature of Shri Jay Narayan Patnaik (In place of Smt. Sucharita Mohanty) as the party candidate for the ensuing general elections to the Lok Sabha from 17 - Puri Parliamentary Constituency of Odisha."

Patnaik, who has been associated with the Congress for the past few years, will be making his electoral debut in this election. The last date for filing nominations in Puri is May 6. Mohanty, who stood second from Puri in the 2014 polls, returned her ticket on Saturday, expressing her inability to campaign in Puri without financial support from the party. In a letter to party general secretary KC Venugopal, Mohanty mentioned, "Our campaign in the Puri Parliamentary constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied me funding. AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar ji categorically asked me to fund for myself. I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri."

Mohanty also stated, "I tried a public donation drive to support my campaign for progressive politics without much success so far. I also tried to cut down the projected campaign spending to the minimum." She further mentioned that the party's central leadership did not respond to her repeated requests for funds. "Puri is among the high-profile poll battles that will unfold in Odisha, with the BJP fielding its national spokesperson Sambit Patra for the second straight time and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's BJD fielding former Mumbai Police commissioner Arup Patnaik. The constituency, currently held by the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Pinaki Misra, votes in the sixth phase on May 25.

In 2019, the Congress secured only 3.94 per cent of the votes in Puri. This was way down from 2014, when Mohanty's vote share was 18.5 per cent and she finished second. Like in 2019, the simultaneous elections in Odisha this time will be held in four phases, with the only difference this time being that the state will vote in the last four of the seven phases, unlike last time when it voted in the first four phases.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, BJD under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik won 12 of the 21 seats. The BJP won eight seats and Congress got one seat. The BJD swept the Odisha assembly polls in 2019, winning 112 seats. BJP won 23 seats and Congress nine seats."

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