All 4 BJD nominees elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Odisha

Bhubaneswar: All the four nominees of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Odisha, announced Returning Officer Dasarathi Satapathy on last date for withdrawal of candidatures today.

The BJD had nominated Subash Singh, chairperson of the Odisha Construction Workers Welfare Board; Munna Khan, advisor to the government on minority affairs; Sujit Kumar, advisor of Special Development Council (SDC) and Mamata Mahanta, a member of the women wing of the BJD in Mayurbhanj district for the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on March 26.

However, all the four candidates won unopposed ahead of the poll as opposition BJP and Congress did not field any nominee for the biennial polls in Odisha and the nominations of four Independent candidates were rejected on technical grounds.

Odisha Assembly Secretary Dasarathi Satapathy, who is also the Returning Officer, announced it on last date of nomination withdrawal today.

Sources said that the four Independent candidates – Ganeswar Mishra, Mamata Samantaray, L P Singh and B Hembram – lacked 10 proposers as required to make their nominations valid.

While BJD has 113 MLAs, the BJP has 23, Congress has nine and CPI(M) has only one member in 147-member Assembly in Odisha.There is also an Independent legislator. Under such circumstances, BJD’s Subash Singh, Munna Khan, Sujit Kumar and Mamata Mahanta were elected to the Upper House of Parliament unopposed.

Worth mentioning, four of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will fall vacant on April 2, after the completion of tenure of BJD MPs Anubhav Mohanty, Narendra Kumar Swain and Sarojini Hembram and Congress member Ranjib Biswal.