Bhubaneswar: BJP leader Sujeet Kumar has been elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed, said the Odisha Assembly in a statement today.

Kumar had filed his nomination for the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha on December 9.

Kumar, who had been elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) nominee in 2020, quit the Upper House as well as the regional party in September this year.

He, later, joined the BJP and got nomination from the saffron party to contest for the Rajya Sabha seat, which was falling vacant due to his resignation from the Upper House.

The BJP leader was declared elected unopposed as no one else had filed nomination for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat.

The polling for the vacant seat was scheduled to be held on December 20.

It is worth mentioning here that Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Mohanta had resigned from the Upper House as well as from the BJD on July 31 this year.

Subsequently, Mohanta joined the BJP and got the saffron party nomination to fight election for the Rajya Sabha seat, which was falling vacant due to her resignation from the Upper House.

She was elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed on September 3.