In at least 12 constituencies, the BJD has replaced sitting MLAs or senior party leaders with their wives. In at least six other seats, the party has replaced such leaders with their children.

While the BJD had denied tickets to 40 of its sitting MLAs in the 2014 polls and 42 in 2019, this time it has replaced 52 of its legislators with new faces so far.

BJD insiders say that changing candidates, who have either won or lost multiple times, helps the party quell the resentment or even anger that the voters may have against some legislators. “Since such sitting MLAs and senior leaders hold sway in their respective constituencies, completely sidelining them would have backfired. Many of them would have crossed over to the BJP, which is on the rise in the state. Hence, after careful consideration, it was decided to replace them with their spouses,” a senior BJD leader said.

Significantly, the BJD and the principal Opposition BJP had recently held several rounds of negotiations over an alliance for the polls, but decided to go on their own ways after their talks failed over seat-sharing.

In Angul, sitting MLA and former minister Rajanikant Singh, who has been winning the seat since 2004, has been replaced by his wife Sanjukta. In the Surada Assembly constituency, which falls under the Aska parliamentary seat, three-time MLA Purna Chandra Swain has given way to his wife Sanghamitra.

Both Sanjukta and Sanghamitra would make their debut in the polls. A BJD leader said multiple surveys suggested that changing candidate in both seats would be beneficial for the party and hence a decision to field the spouses of the legislators was taken.

Former state minister Rabi Narayan Nanda has been replaced by his wife Indira Nanda in the Jeypore Assembly seat, which falls under the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency. Rabi had won the seat thrice between 2000 and 2009. He however lost to the Congress’s Taraprasad Bahinipati in the 2014 and 2019 polls.

Subhasini, wife of former Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the seat, is in the fray from Basta, one of the seven Assembly seats falling under the Balasore parliamentary constituency.

In the ST-reserved seat of Bangiriposi, sitting MLA and state minister Sudam Marndi, who has been fielded from the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat, has been replaced by his wife Ranjita.

In Paradip, where the BJD reportedly faced internal rift over the renomination of sitting MLA Sambit Routray, the party resolved the row by fielding his wife Geetanjali.

Similarly, three-time MLA Subrat Tarai has been replaced by his wife Archana Rekha Behara in the Raghunathpali Assembly seat.

“Even as the women candidates are getting a good response from voters on the ground, their husbands will run the show from behind the scenes,” a BJD leader said.

Some BJD leaders who have “passed on the baton” to their next generation include state minister and six-time MLA Usha Devi, who has given way to her son Srirup Deb from her bastion, Chikti. Deb, who is the scion of the erstwhile Chikti royal family and had worked in a multinational IT firm before starting his own business, had been accompanying his mother during campaigning for the past several years.

Another BJD heavyweight who will be out of the fray is Pratap Jena from the Mahanga Assembly seat, which he has represented since 2009. He has been replaced by son Ankit. Arabinda Mohapatra, son of BJD leader Bijou Mohapatra, who was expelled from BJD 24 years back, will be the party’s candidate in his father’s bastion of Patkura in Kendrapada district.

Geetanjali Devi, the 27-year-old scion of the erstwhile Dharakote royal family and daughter of former MLA Nandini Devi, is one of the youngest candidates in the state, making her debut from Sanakhemundi, where her mother had lost to the Congress’s Ramesh Jena in 2019. The sons of late BJD veterans Maheshwar Mohanty and Surya Narayan Patra, Sunil and Biplab, have been fielded from Puri and Digapahandi respectively.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJD has continued to nominate 33% women candidates. For the Assembly polls, the party has so far fielded 34 women nominees (24%) as compared to the 19 (12.9%) it did in 2019.

Rural women, especially those who are a part of various Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under the Patnaik government’s Mission Shakti programme, are seen to be the BJD’s biggest support base and a key factor for his party’s successive electoral successes in the state for over two decades.

BJD insiders said the party’s move to nominate women candidates, including those without much political experience, helps it consolidate women votes in its favour while burnishing its image as a party dedicated to the cause of women empowerment in public life.