Bhubaneswar, April 9 -- Odisha is currently witnessing an unusual pattern. With just days left for the filing of nomination papers for the first phase polls, not a single political party has been able to announce its complete list of candidates.

The Odisha unit of the Congress party is much behind the ruling BJD and BJP as far as announcing the names of candidates is concerned. The Congress so far has been able to declare candidates for 49 Assembly seats out of 147 and 8 Lok Sabha seats out of a total 21.

However, senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik on Tuesday said that the party has already finalised its candidates and the names will be announced soon.

"As per procedure, the list of candidates will be put before the Screening Committ...