Congress Left Red-Faced as Puri Candidate Sucharita Mohanty Withdraws from 2024 Elections Due to Lack of Funds

Sucharita Mohanty, the party’s candidate, dropped out of the election race for the Puri Parliamentary Constituency, citing lack of funds. In a letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, she expressed her decision to return the INC ticket. Ms. Mohanty, a journalist-turned-politician, alleged that the Odisha Congress in-charge Ajoy Kumar had asked her to use her own funds for the election campaign. Ms. Mohanty had tried to arrange funds through crowd-funding after her nomination for the Puri Lok Sabha seat.

Despite her efforts, she was unable to raise enough funds on her own, and the party did not provide support. She also expressed dissatisfaction with the Congress regarding the selection of candidates for the seven Assembly segments under the Puri Lok Sabha constituency and had requested party seniors to change the candidates in some of the seats, but her requests were not addressed. Voting in Puri was scheduled for May 25. This withdrawal adds to the opposition party’s losses, as it has already lost candidates in Surat and Indore.

The BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared the unopposed winner for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency after the disqualification of the Congress nominee Nilesh Kumbhani, while the Congress candidate Akshay Bam, who was fielded from Indore, withdrew his name and joined the BJP.