Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik files nomination for Hinjili assembly seat

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday filed his nomination for the Hinjili assembly seat in Ganjam district.

Accompanied by his close aide V Karthikeyan Pandian, senior party leaders and workers, Patnaik filed his nomination papers at the sub-collector’s office at Chhatrapur. This is for the sixth time in a row the CM is contesting from the Hinjili seat.

Prior to filing his nomination papers, Patnaik offered prayers at Maa Tara Tarini Temple. He headed for the temple in a carcade with a large number of his supporters after landing on a temporary helipad at Narasinghpur Chhak near the shrine at 11.05 am. He received a warm welcome from the servitors of the temple.

Naveen Patnaik has been representing the Hinjili assembly constituency since 2000. He will fight from the seat in the forthcoming elections for ‘all-time record’ in Indian politics. If the BJD returns to power, he will become the longest-serving Chief Minister of India, surpassing the record of Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim.

Hinjili assembly segment comes under Aska Lok Sabha constituency. It will go to polls in the state’s second phase on May 20, 2024.

In 2019, Naveen won the seat by defeating nearest rival Pitambar Acharya of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a huge margin of 60.160 votes. This time, the BJP has fielded Sisir Mishra to give a check to the BJD chief. The Congress, which has won the seat for six terms, has landed Rajanikant Padhi to take on the CM.