Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the monsoon session of Odisha Assembly starting September 29, 14 MLAs have tested positive for COVID-19.
On Monday, 12 MLAs – 11 are from the BJD and one from the BJP – tested positive for the virus.
The 11 BJD MLAs are Deputy Speaker Rajanikant Singh, Samir Ranjan Dash (minister), Padmini Dian (minister), Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi (minister), Ashok Kumar Bal (Korei MLA), Bishnubrat Routray (Basudevpur MLA), Bhagirathi Sethi (Anandpur MLA), Susanta Behera (Chhendipada MLA), Umakanta Samantaray (Satyabadi MLA), Prashant Jagdev (Chilika MLA) and Sukanta Nayak (Nilagiri MLA).
Apart from them, BJP MLA of Rengali Nauri Nayak was found to have contracted the virus.
Two BJD MLAs—Pramila Mallick (chief whip and Binjharpur MLA) and Debi Prasad Mishra (Baramba MLA) —were among the 136 of 757 samples that tested positive on Sunday.
The monsoon session is scheduled to begin from Tuesday and those tested positive will not be allowed to attend the session.
