Dikhyaa Mohanty 
On Monday, numerous prominent figures from diverse political factions in Odisha submitted their nomination documents for the concurrent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections that are scheduled to take place soon. Sambit Patra, a prominent member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the party’s nominee for the Puri Lok Sabha seat, submitted his nomination papers to the district collector’s office on Monday. Ashrit Patnaik, the BJP’s contender for the Pipili Assembly seat, also submitted his nomination paperwork to the deputy collector’s office.
Before submitting his nomination papers on Monday, Patra and Patnaik staged a massive demonstration that started in Uttara, a town outside of Bhubaneswar and ended in Puri. The BJP rally from Pipili to Puri involved hundreds of party workers. In the 2019 general election, Sambit Patra faced stiff opposition from lawyers and Biju Janata Dal candidate Pinaki Misra, which resulted in Patra losing the Puri Lok Sabha seat. This time, the BJD has Arup Patnaik, a former IPS officer and the commissioner of police in Mumbai, running against Patra in the Puri Lok Sabha seat.
In the meantime, Sucharita Mohanty has been nominated by the Congress for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency. Sanjay Das Burma, the BJD’s formidable candidate for the Satyabadi Assembly seat, also travelled to Puri with party workers and staged a sizable gathering before submitting his nomination papers on Monday. Nominations for the third round of the Odisha leg of the May 25 election were accepted throughout the state on Monday.
On May 25, polls will be taken in the state’s six Lok Sabha seats: Puri, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Keonjhar. However, a number of other prominent figures, such as former Union Minister Dilip Ray, submitted nomination papers in their respective areas. The BJP has chosen Ray to run for the Rourkela Assembly seat. Odisha will simultaneously hold four rounds of assembly and Lok Sabha elections from May 13 to June 1. On June 4, the results will be released.
