Among the prominent candidates in the second round of simultaneous elections in the state are BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and his colleagues in the state government Bikram Arukha, Niranjan Pujari, PK Amat, Tukuni Sahu, and Rita Sahu.
Former Union Minister and Sundergarh's sitting MP Jual Oram, former Union Minister and hotelier Dilip Ray, four-time Lok Sabha MP Sangeeta Singh Deo are among the prominent candidates from the BJPin this round of elections.
A total of 40 candidates are contesting from Aska, Kandhamal, Balangir, Bargarh and Sundergarh Lok Sabha seats, while 265 are in the fray for 35 assembly constituencies.
Altogether 79.62 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise on May 20.
The voting will begin at 7 AM and end at 6 PM.
The state, during this round of electioneering, witnessed heavyweights of the ruling BJD, and the opposition BJP and Congress canvassing for their respective candidates.
Prominent leaders, who campaigned during this round of elections, included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sachin Pilot.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Dev Sai, Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal, Tripura’s ex-CM Biplab Kumar Deb, Bollywood's 'dream girl' and Mathura MP Hema Malini also hit the campaign trail for BJP candidates.
The election campaigning in this phase of polls witnessed violence in which a BJP worker was killed in Khallikote assembly segment of Ganjam district, the home district of the Chief Minister.
Polling for the first phase was conducted in 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13. In the fifth phase, 35 Assembly seats and five Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on May 20, 42 Assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats on May 25 and the remaining 42 Assembly seats and six Lok Sabha constituencies in the last phase on June 1.
The results will be out on June 4.
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