Bhubaneswar, Apr 20 (Reporter) The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha announced candidates for nine Assembly seats, denying party tickets to six sitting MLAs. The party dropped the sitting MLAs of Champua, Remuna, Kendrapara, Anandpur, Barchana, and Simulia from contesting the upcoming election. Among the six sitting MLAs who were denied party tickets is the party’s founding member and former minister, Amar Prasad Satpathy, who has served as an MLA for six terms. Satpathy was elected to the Barchana Assembly seat six times, twice from the Janata Dal ticket, once from the NCP, and three times as a Biju Janata Dal candidate. He served as Minister of State for Agriculture in the Naveen Patnaik government from 2000 to 2002 and as the government chief whip in the state assembly from 2017 to 2019. BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik surprised many by nominating Ollywood actress Varsha Priyadarshini, who joined the party on Thursday, to contest the Barchana Assembly seat, replacing sitting MLA Amar Satpathy, who was also vying for the seat for his son. Varsha Priyadarshini is the ex-wife of sitting Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty, who quit the BJD and joined the BJP. The BJD also named former Minister Ganeshwar Behera, who recently resigned from the Congress and joined the BJD, as a candidate for the Kendrapara Assembly seat, denying party tickets to sitting MLA Sashi Bhusan Behera, who had served as Minister of State Finance in the Naveen Patnaik government. Sashi Bhusan was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2012 to 2014 and served as a member of the Balianta and Balipatna Assembly seat, which was later named Jaydev Assembly constituencies. This time, the BJD nominated noted trade union leader and former independent MLA Sanatan Mahakud to contest the Champua Assembly seat, replacing sitting MLA Minakshi Mahant. However, the party renominated sitting MLA Basanti Hembram from Karanjia Assembly seat. The ruling party has so far announced candidates for 135 Assembly seats in six phases and is yet to finalize the candidates for the remaining 12 Assembly seats. The opposition BJP and Congress are also yet to announce party candidates for 14 and 19 Assembly seats, respectively. The BJD and the BJP have already announced candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress has so far announced candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats...////...