Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) nominees for Rajya Sabha elections Debashish Samantaray and Subhasish Khuntia filed their nominations in the Odisha Assembly building in the presence of party president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday.
While Samantray is a former MLA, Khuntia happens to be vice-president of BJD’s youth wing. They filed the papers a day after the party supremo announced their names as candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections elections scheduled to be held on February 27.
Apart from Naveen, a host of senior leaders of the ruling party, including Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, were present when the two leaders filed their nomination.
It may be noted here that three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will fall vacant as Ashwini Vaishnaw, Amar Patnaik and Prashanta Nanda are due to retire from the Upper House in April this year.
The ruling party is yet to name its candidate for the third seat. The delay in naming the third candidate has generated suspense in political circles. Sources in the BJD said the third nominee has already been decided and will be announced in a day or two. The regional party has the required numbers to win all the three seats.
The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for Rajya Sabha polls. It may be recalled that the BJD had ensured the victory of former bureaucrat Vaishnaw who was nominated by BJP as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypolls in 2019. The regional party supported him as the saffron party did not have the numbers.
According to official notification, the last date for filing of nomination is February 15 and the last date for withdrawal is February 20.
The polling will be held on February 27 between 9 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will be conducted at 5 pm the same day.
