Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Nomination papers for 28 Assembly segments under four Odisha Lok Sabha constituencies, where voting is scheduled for May 13, have closed. In the fourth round of elections, 266 candidates submitted 483 nomination papers for 28 Assembly seats, according to statistics made public by the Election Commission on Friday. Twenty candidates have submitted nominations for the Assembly segment’s Berhampur seat, while 14 candidates have each registered for the Digapahandi and Koraput Assembly constituencies.
Sarat Pattanayak, the president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, has submitted nominations for the Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency’s Nuapada Assembly seat. Sidhant Mohapatra, a well-known actor and BJP politician, submitted nominations for the Digapahandi Vidhan Sabha constituency. For the parliamentary constituencies of Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, and Koraput, 39 candidates—including 10 independents—have submitted nominations. For the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, up to 13 candidates have submitted nominations, compared to just 4 for the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat. Eleven candidates have submitted nominations for the Lok Sabha seats in Kalahandi and Berhampur, respectively.
Leading member of the Congress Saptagiri Ulaka has submitted nominations for the Lok Sabha seat from Koraput. Pradeep Kumar Majhi, the leader of the BJD, has submitted nominations for the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat. Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy, a prominent member of the BJP, has submitted nominations for the Berhampur parliamentary seat. The candidates have until April 29 to withdraw their nominations, after which the nominations will be examined on Friday.
However, nominations for the fifth phase of voting, which is set on May 20 in 35 Assembly segments under five Lok Sabha constituencies—Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal, and Aska—began on Friday. May 3 is the deadline for submitting nominations.
