After a calm initial phase of elections in Odisha, the State has entered a more intense phase with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) competing fiercely as five Lok Sabha seats and 35 Assembly seats are set to be contested on May 20.
The prominent contenders in phase two include Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, former Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey, former Union Minister and hotelier Dilip Ray, and BJP’s four-time Lok Sabha Sangeeta Singh Deo.
As many as 40 candidates are contesting from five LS seat while 265 candidates are in fray for 35 Assembly seats. As many as 79,62,148 voters will exercise their franchise in the fifth (Odisha’s second) on May 20.