Bhubaneswar: The BJP on Tuesday named state unit president Manmohan Samal and outgoing MP Sujeet Kumar as its Rajya Sabha candidates from Odisha.
This came a day after the Odisha unit of the party announced its decision to contest three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state, setting the stage for an intense contest ahead of the March 16 election. The four seats in the Upper House from Odisha will fall vacant on April 2 following the completion of the tenure of Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan of the BJD, and Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta of the BJP.
However, its move to collect 16 sets of nomination forms from the returning officer set off speculation about cross-voting and strategic alliances with the BJD-Congress putting up a common candidate Dr Datteswar Hota, blocking BJP’s potential third seat.
March 5 is the last date for filing of nominations.
In the 147-member Odisha Legislative Assembly, the BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, giving it an effective strength of 82 votes. The BJD’s tally stands at 48 following the suspension of two of its legislators last month. The Congress has 14 MLAs, and the CPI(M) has one.
The BJP is comfortably positioned to win two seats. After securing those, it would have about 22 surplus votes, eight short of the threshold needed for a third seat on its own. The BJD, after electing one member, would be left with 19 surplus votes and the Opposition expects that with the support of Congress and CPI(M), Hota can survive the electoral battle.
Though Samal steered the BJP to power for the first time in the state, he suffered defeat in Chandbali segment to BJD’s Byomakesh Ray by a margin of 1,916 votes in 2024 Assembly elections. The decision to field Samal and Sujeet also reflects the party’s emphasis on organisational strength and regional representation. While Samal is from coastal Odisha, Sujeet Kumar is from Kalahandi.
