As Sucharita Mohanty Drops Out of LS Race, Congress Names Another Candidate From Puri

Puri: Hours after Sucharita Mohanty, the Congress party candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha seat in Odisha, decided to return her ticket to the party citing lack of funds for campaigning for the polls, the party announced another candidate from the seat on Saturday. After Mohanty withdrew her name as a Congress candidate, the party declared Jay Narayan Patnaik as its candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha constituency.

The Congress also refuted the claims of its previous candidate Sucharita Mohanty dropping out of the poll race due to lack of funds. Responding to the same, senior party leader KC Venugopal said that the party had replaced Mohanty with another candidate.

Sucharita Mohanty earlier declined contesting LS Polls alleging lack of funding from party

The fresh political development occurred after Sucharita Mohanty on Saturday declined to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Odisha's Puri Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket alleging lack of funding from the party.

Congress Party’s general secretary KC Venugopal later responded to her claims, asserting that the candidate change was not due to Mohanty’s withdrawal, but rather a strategic decision by the party.

Venugopal said, "No, we changed the candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha seat. Sucharita Mohanty did not back out. A new candidate for the seat has been appointed, and the name will be announced soon."

Sucharita Mohanty, daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty, claimed that her campaign in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied funding.

She alleged that All India Congress Committee (AICC) Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar "categorically" asked her to fight using her own resources.

Mohanty claimed, "I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri. 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."

Sucharita was nominated by the Congress to contest the Puri Lok Sabha seat against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The Puri Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha, which will go to polls in the month of May this year. The date of voting is May 25th, which will take place in the sixth phase of the 7 phase Lok Sabha elections.