Sucharita Mohanty: The Congress candidate for the Puri parliamentary seat, Sucharita Mohanty, returned her ticket on Saturday, citing the party’s lack of financial support. Mohanty released a statement in which she bemoaned the party’s failure to supply the money she needed for her campaign. Notably, Mohanty recently started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for her election campaign from members of the public.
Frozen Bank Accounts
The Congress party’s bank accounts were allegedly frozen due to financial difficulties, so she shared a UPI QR code on social media to ask for financial assistance. Mohanty wrote to KC Venugopal, the AICC General Secretary (Organisation), saying “Our campaign in Puri Parliamentary Constituency has been hit hard because the Party has denied me funding. AICC Odisha In-Charge Dr Ajoy Kumar Ji categorically asked me to fend for myself.”
Mohanty’s Transition from Journalist to Politician
“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 added.
“Since I couldn’t raise funds on my own, I knocked at your’s and all other doors of our Party’s Central Leadership, urging them to commit the necessary Party funds for an impactful campaign in Puri Parliament Seat… It is clear that only fund crunch is holding us back from a winning campaign in Puri,” Suchitra said in the letter.
Funding Fiasco and Candidate Selection Critique
Suchitra Mohanty told ANI that following her return of the Puri ticket to the celebration, “I have returned the ticket because the party was not able to fund me. Another reason is that in some of the seats in 7 Assembly segments, winnable candidates have not been given the ticket. Instead, some weak candidates got the ticket. I couldn’t contest like this”.
“…If there was any positive response (from the party) then I wouldn’t have returned my ticket. I was told to organise my own resources as the party can’t fund me,” Mohanty stated, emphasizing the reason behind her ticket return. “I got the ticket in a democratic way…BJP govt has put all kinds of restriction on our accounts. BJP govt doesn’t want Congress to put up a good campaign so the party is unable to support its candidates,” she added.
Party’s Financial Woes and Candidate Discontent
In an additional interview with OTV, Mohanty—who has a background in journalism—said, “The party is unable to fund me. Besides, weak candidates have been deliberately fielded in the seven Assembly seats under my Parliamentary constituency. I even urged the party to change four Assembly candidates. The party told me to fight the election on my own.” “At a time when the ruling government’s vulgar display of wealth is prevailing at all places, I can’t fight the election without funds,” she added.
Journalist Suchitra Mohanty works as a journalist. The Congress party offered her a ticket for the Puri Lok Sabha seat in Odisha. In the upcoming elections, Suchitra, the daughter of former MP Brajmohan Mohanty, was scheduled to run against former IPS officer Arun Patnaik of the BJD and Sambit Patra of the BJP.
