Filing of nominations ends for 1st phase LS, Assembly polls

Filing of nominations for 10 Lok Sabha and 70 assembly seats in Odisha going to polls on April 10 ended today with a total of 147 candidates filing their papers on the last day.
Prominent among them were senior Congress leader and former union minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, his party colleague and MP Amarnath Pradhan and senior BJP leaders Jual Oram and Suresh Pujari.
While Sahu filed his papers for Berhampur lok sabha constituency as a Congress candidate, Pradhan filed nomination on Congress ticket for Sambalpur parliamentary seat which he represents now.
Jual Oram, a former union minister and prominent tribal leader, filed his papers from Sundargarh parliamentary constituency as a BJP nominee, while Pujari, a former state BJP president, filed his nomination on BJP ticket from Sambalpur lok sabha seat.

In Balangir assembly constituency, former minister Narsingh Mishra filed his nomination as a Congress candidate, while A U Singhdeo, also a former state minister, filed his papers as a BJD nominee.
BJP's Odisha unit president and former state minister K V Singhdeo filed his nomination from the prestigious Patnagarh assembly constituency which he is representing for the fourth consecutive term.
Scrutiny of nominations for the first phase election is scheduled to be held on March 24 while March 26 has been fixed for withdrawal of candidates, sources said.
The last date for filing nomination for the second phase of election for 11 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly segments in the state is March 26.