Bhubaneswar: Three BJD candidates from Odisha for the Rajya Sabha elections were declared uncontested on Friday.
The returning officer of state Assembly handed over the elected certificates to the three candidates including Sulata Deo, Manas Ranjan Mangaraj, Sasmit Patra. They will function as members of Rajya Sabha for 6 years.
The election to three Rajya Sabha seats were announced on May 24 after the term of Prasanna Acharya, N Bhaskar Rao and Dr Sasmit Patra expired. The last date of filing nomination papers was May 31 while that for withdrawal was June 3.
As no other candidate from any party filed nominations nor the BJD candidates withdrew their papers, the three candidates were declared uncontested.
Following their election, all the three leaders met BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the latter’s residence in Bhubaneswar. The chief minister congratulated them on their election.
For the byelection to the fourth RS seat, the last date for withdrawal of nomination is June 6. The BJD’s Niranjan Bishi has filed papers for this seat. As no other candidate has filed nominations, Bishi will also be elected unopposed, if he does not withdraw his papers.
