Puri Lok Sabha Elections: Denied party funding, Congress candidate Sucharita Mohanty returns ticket

Congress candidate Sucharita Mohanty has decided to withdraw from contesting the Puri Lok Sabha elections. Mohanty, the daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty, cited a lack of funding from the party as the primary reason for her decision.

Mohanty, who has been involved in electoral politics for a decade, expressed her disappointment in a mail to AICC general secretary (organization) K C Venugopal. She claimed that despite her efforts to raise funds, including a public donation drive, she has been unable to garner enough support for her campaign in Puri.

"I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri. I tried a public donation drive to support my campaign for progressive politics without much success so far. I also tried to cut down the projected campaign spending to the minimum," she mentioned.


The Congress candidate revealed that AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar had asked her to fund her campaign from her own resources, which she found challenging as a former salaried professional journalist.

"It is clear that only fund crunch is holding us back from a winning campaign in Puri. I regret that without party funding, it won't be possible to carry out the campaign in Puri. I, therefore, return the party ticket for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency herewith," she said in her mail to the AICC.

Expressing her loyalty to the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi, Mohanty returned the party ticket for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency, highlighting that without adequate funding, a successful campaign in Puri would not be feasible.

Speaking to media persons, Mohanty said "I was denied funds from the party. In Assembly segments under the Puri LS constituency, weak candidates were given tickets. BJP and BJD are sitting on mountains of money. Vulgar displays of wealth are everywhere. It was difficult for me to fight the election."

The Congress leader said she wanted a people-oriented campaign but that was also not possible with the lack of funds. The party is also not responsible for that as the BJP government has crippled the party. There are a lot of curbs on expenditure and many bank accounts have been frozen, she added.

AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajoy Kumar said "Mohanty is saying that no fund provided and weak MLA candidates have been fielded. The party has nominated its best candidate for the MLA seats and funds will be provided to a candidate when the candidate launches the campaign and seriously fights at the ground."

Before coming to the ground, Mohanty has alleged that no funds were given. But, at the time when she was requesting a party ticket, Mohanty had said that she would seriously fight the election, Kumar said.

The party has already decided to change the Puri LS candidate and a proposal was submitted to the Congress high command. The name of the new candidate will be announced very soon, he said.

Sucharita Mohanty was slated to contest against BJP's Sambit Patra, a national spokesperson, and BJD's Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner, for the Puri LS seat. Her withdrawal raises questions about the Congress party's strategy and funding decisions in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

(With inputs from PTI)