Bhubaneswar, April 2 -- The BJP today announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Odisha Assembly elections. The saffron party has fielded a total of 112 nominees in the first phase.

The list includes political heavyweights and several BJD deserters, including Ollywood stars Akash Das Nayak and Sidhant Mohapatra.

Manmohan Samal, President of the Odisha unit of the BJP, will contest from the Chandbali seat.

Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari will contest for the seat of Brajrajnagar MLA as the party has nominated him from the constituency. He had defeated BJD's Prasanna Acharya in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete has been re-nominated by the BJP for the constituency. She had won the 2019 elections by defeating BJD'...