Bhubaneswar: Sujeet Kumar on Monday filed nomination for the Rajya Sabha by-election from Odisha as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee.
Kumar filed his papers at Odisha Legislative Assembly in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister K V Singhdeo, BJP state president Manmohan Samal and Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra.
Earlier in the day, the saffron party named Sujeet (Odisha), Ryaga Krishnaiah (Andhra Pradesh) and Rekha Sharma for vacant seats in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana respectively.
The Election Commission of India (ECI)) had on November 26 announced by-election to six Rajya Sabha seats, including one from Odisha. While December 10 is the last date for filing nomination, voting is scheduled to be held on December 20.
The one seat from Odisha fell vacant following the resignation of Sujeet, who was then a BJD member in the Upper House of Parliament. He also resigned from BJD and joined the saffron party in September.
Earlier, senior tribal leader from Mayurbhanj district Mamata Mohanta had resigned from the Rajya Sabha as well as BJD and then joined the BJP. She was subsequently elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha as a BJP member.
The BJP adopted the same strategy to send Sujeet to Rajya Sabha once again and the vacant seat will go to the party given its numerical strength of 78 MLAs in 147-member Vidhan Sabha in Odisha. Once elected, his tenure will continue till April 2026 and the strength of BJP will go up to three in Rajya Sabha.
Besides Mamata, Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is a Rajya Sabha member of BJP from Odisha.
A native of Kalahandi district, Sujeet was once perceived to be very close to BJD president Naveen Patnaik’s close aide V K Pandian. His resignation diminished BJD’s strength in the Upper House to seven members, while the party currently has no representation in the Lok Sabha.
