Rajya Sabha Polls: Three BJD Candidates To File Nomination Papers Today

Bhubaneswar: Three candidates of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)—Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Achyut Samant and Prasant Nanda— would file their nomination papers on Friday for the ensuing Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on March 23.

“The three candidates would arrive at the chamber of the Chief Minister at 11 AM with their proposers and supporters and file their nomination papers,” BJD spokesperson Sameer Das told media persons here.

In Odisha, the biennial election to three Rajya Sabha seats will be held following the expiry of term of AV Swamy, AU Singhdeo and Dilip Tirkey on April 3.

However, taking into consideration the absolute majority of the BJD in the State Assembly with 118 members, the election would be a formality even if the opposition fields any candidate.

As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the last date of filing nominations is March 12, scrutiny of nominations on March 13 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures on March 15.

The polling would begin at 9 AM and end at 4 PM while counting of votes and announcement of results would be made on March 23.

The poll process would be completed on March 26.