Bhubaneswar, Mar 11 (IANS): The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday questioned the Election Commission's decision to conduct elections in four phases in Odisha even though the state has only 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly constituencies.

The BJD alleged that state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had been influenced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BJD spokesperson Amar Patnaik said that polling had been spread out into several phases where the BJP was weak.

"While the polls will be held in one phase in states like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat having more seats, the EC has decided to conduct polls in several phases in the states where BJP is weak," he said.

The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be conducted simultaneously in four phases in Odisha.

Earlier, the polls were being conducted in two phases in Odisha because of Maoist threat.

"By influencing the EC, the saffron party is trying to occupy the non-BJP states," Patnaik said.

Meanwhile, BJD President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the list of party candidates will be announced soon.

He said the process for selection of candidates was on and the list will be finalised very soon.

He said at an event when former Khurda MLA Jitu Mitra rejoined the BJD here.