Bhubaneswar, May 9 (IANS): Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday named Alaka Mohanty as its candidate for the bypoll to the Brajarajnagar Assembly seat in Odisha's Jharsuguda district.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik has nominated Alaka for the election, party's general secretary (media affairs) Manas Ranjan Mangaraj said in a statement.

The bypoll was necessitated following the untimely demise of BJD's Kishore Mohanty in last December. Alaka is his widow.

Alaka thanked Patnaik for selecting her for the bypoll. "Naveen Patnaik government has floated several schemes starting from the birth of a child to death of a person. Will go to the voters with these schemes, she said.

The BJP on Sunday nominated former MLA Radharani Panda as its candidate for the bypoll.

Panda was elected to the Odisha Assembly from the Brajarajnagar constituency by defeating BJD candidate Anup Kumar Sai in 2014. She, however, lost to BJD's Kishore Mohanty by a margin of 11,634 during the last Assembly polls held in 2019. The saffron party has given another chance to Panda.

However, Congress is yet to name its candidates for the seat. The party is likely to nominate former Speaker Kishore Patel for the by-election, sources said.

The Election Commission of India has announced May 31, 2022 as the date for the by-election to the Assembly seat. Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The last date for filing of nomination papers is May 11. The nominations will be scrutinised on May 12 and the candidates are allowed to withdraw their candidature by May 17. Counting of votes will be done on June 3.