Odisha: BJD Nominates Debasish Samantray & Subhasish Khuntia As Candidates For RS Polls

Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha has nominated two persons as its candidates for election to Rajya Sabha.

The BJD, in a press lease signed by its president Naveen Patnaik on Monday, said it has nominated Debasish Samantray and Subhasish Khuntia as its candidates for Rajya Sabha elections.

The elections will be held for 3 Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. The seats will fall vacant in April when the term of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prasant Nanda and Amar Patnaik in the Upper House will end.

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.

It may be noted 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 with only 23 MLAs did not have the numbers.

Earlier, a senior BJD leader had asserted that there will be no understanding with the BJP over Rajya Sabha seats this time. The party with 114 members has adequate numbers to win all the three seats.