'Can't contest like this': Congress' Puri candidate reveals why she won't run the Lok Sabha race

Sucharita Mohanty. Image courtesy: @Sucharita4Puri/X

While the Congress celebrates Rahul Gandhi’s second candidature from Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli, his first being from Wayanad, Sucharita Mohanty, the party’s candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha constituency has withdrawn her name and returned her ticket.

The Puri constituency will go to polls in the second last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 25.

With Mohanty out of the fray now, the Congress has time on May 6 to choose another candidate for this candidate.

Why did Mohanty return her ticket?

In a mail to All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief KC Venugopal, Mohanty cited a lack of funds that forced her to step down from the race.

She claimed that the grand old party has been denying funding for her campaign.

She alleged that AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar “categorically” asked her to fight from her own resources.

“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.

Last month, Mohanty opened a public funding drive to keep her campaign afloat. On her X account, Mohanty shared a QR code linked to her account to raise funds.

“Please support my campaign in Puri with any financial contribution you can make. support good politics! defeat money bags & scamsters!” she wrote.

She added, “I am a salaried professional woman with limited resources of my own to carry out a successful campaign to defeat the corrupt and Electoral Bond scamsters.”

In the post, she has also written that the Congress party is providing “zero funding” for the campaign.

Her appeal, however, did not garner much support so Mohanty approached senior leaders of Congress including the party’s central leadership for funds.

“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.

Nevertheless, Mohanty said that she would remain loyal to the party.

Who is Sucharita Mohanty?

Daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty, Sucharita Mohanty is a journalist by profession.

She joined politics 10 years ago.

Sucharita had been fielded for the Puri LS seat against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mohanty lost her seat to Biju Janata Dal’s candidate Pinaki Mishra.