Bhubaneswar: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to field candidates for three of the four seats in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha.
As per sources, a decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of senior party leaders held in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
The meeting was attended among others by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida and BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal.
It was reportedly decided that three candidates of BJP will file their nominations for
the biennial elections on March 5. However, the saffron party is yet to announce its candidates for the upcoming polls.
All party MLAs have been asked to remain present during the submission of nomination papers by the three candidates. Signatures of legislators were reportedly obtained on nomination forms collected by the Lotus party for submission.
It may be noted that four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will go to the polls on March 16.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already announced detailed scheduled for the elections as four Rajya Sabha MPs from Odisha are scheduled to retire on April 2. The retiring members are Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan of the BJD, and Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta of the BJP.
The BJP, which has 79 MLAs in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, enjoys the support of three independent legislators. The ruling party is almost certain to win two of the four vacant Rajya Sabha seats.