Sucharita Mohanty, a former journalist, had fought on Congress ticket from Puri LS seat in 2014
Sucharita Mohanty, Congress candidate for the prestigious Puri Lok Sabha constituency, has withdrawn her candidature citing her party’s inability to fund her campaign, coupled with her own incapability to compete financially against the formidable opponents from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
“I have withdrawn my candidature for Puri Lok Sabha seat as I am unable to mobilise resources to fund my campaign for the ongoing elections. The Congress refused to fund my election campaign. Besides, there has been no funding for seven candidates contesting assembly elections in Puri Lok Sabha jurisdiction,” said Ms. Mohanty.
She said, “I don’t blame the Congress as its finances have been crippled by the Narendra Modi Government. The BJP Government wants to win election by paralysing the Congress, the main Opposition party. Suppressing Opposition and winning election unethically is their ploy.”
Ms. Mohanty was also not happy with the selection of candidates in four out of seven Assembly constituencies coming under Puri Lok Sabha seat.
“I found less-deserving candidates getting Congress tickets in four Assembly segments. I took it up with the Congress leadership. I had been assured that these four candidates would be changed and winnable candidates would replace existing ones. But that did not happen,” said the Congress leader who returned her ticket on May 3.
Ms. Mohanty was critical of ‘vulgar display’ of financial muscle power of the BJP and the BJD candidates in the Puri Lok Sabha seat. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and former Mumbai Police Commissioner and BJD leader Arup Patnaik have filed nomination for the Puri seat.
Both the BJP and the BJD candidates had already spent taxpayers’ money for campaigning their parties before the model code of conduct came into force, she said.
When asked the minimum fund she required for her campaign, the Congress leader said, “I would require ₹5 lakh for distributing one Nyaya card containing five pledges of party among all families. The campaign materials and transportation cost for reaching out to every corner of Assembly seat require huge fund.”
“I tried everything to mobilise funds through crowd-funding, but failed to get enough response. I wanted to run simple campaign without resorting to flaunting financial muscle. Besides, I also believe in value-based politics,” she remarked.
Ms. Mohanty, third daughter of former Union Minister late Brajamohan Mohanty and a former journalist, had fought 2014 election on Congress tickets and came second. She had polled 45,000 votes higher than her BJP rival.
In 2019, she was denied a ticket, while another journalist, Satya Prakash Nayak, was fielded by the Congress. While the BJP narrowly lost the election, the Congress’ vote share plunged drastically from 25% to 3.94% from 2014 to 2019.
