Bhubaneswar: Candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – state unit president Manmohan Samal and outgoing MP Sujeet Kumar – and senior politician Dilip Ray filed their nominations on Thursday for the Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha.
The aspirants filed their nominations before the returning officer at the state Assembly building in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and senior BJP leaders.
Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar submitted their papers as the official BJP candidates. Party leaders rallied behind them to secure two seats comfortably.
Dilip Ray, a former Union minister, filed his nomination as an independent candidate. BJP has announced its support to him for the crucial fourth seat in the biennial election scheduled to be held on March 16.
Meanwhile, BJD candidate Santrupt Misra and ‘common nominee’ Dr Datteswar Hota, backed by the regional party and Congress, filed their nominations earlier in the day. It will be a keen fight between Ray and Hota for the crucial fourth seat.
Before filing his nomination, Ray paid tribute to his mentor and legendary leader Biju Patnaik on the occasion of his birth anniversary.
Expressing confidence, Ray said he expects to win the contest despite not having the required magic number of 30 first-preference votes in his favour. Notably, he had earlier secured a Rajya Sabha seat in 2002 through cross-voting.
The 4 seats, falling vacant on April 2 following the completion of term of two BJP members — Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar and two from the BJD —Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan, have drawn significant political attention.
Arithmetic in the 147-member Odisha Assembly positions the ruling BJP, with around 82 MLAs, including 3 Independents, to comfortably secure at least two seats. The opposition BJD, with 48 MLAs, is poised to claim one. The fourth seat has emerged as the key battleground, where the BJP aims to extend its tally to three, while the BJD-Congress alliance- marking a rare collaboration—backs Hota to prevent a BJP sweep. Congress has 14 MLAs, and the CPI(M) has one.
The outcome of the fourth seat could hinge on post-nomination alignments, cross-voting possibilities, or last-minute withdrawals, making this election a test of numerical strength and strategic manoeuvring in Odisha’s evolving political landscape.
