Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 1:

Nomination papers of all BJD candidates for the July 11 polls to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha are valid, informed Assembly secretary-cum returning officer A K Sarangi.

BJD RS n

On the other hand, nomination papers of three others who had filed their papers as independent candidates have been rejected, he added.

The nomination papers of K Shyambabu Subbudhi, Lala Arun Singh, and Akshaya Kumar Behera were rejected as these lacked security deposit and the requisite number of proposers for their candidature, Sarangi clarified.

Sarangi made the announcement after completion of scrutiny of nomination papers today.

Three senior BJD leaders Prasanna Acharya, Bishnu Das and N Bhaskar Rao had filed their nomination papers for the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections on Monday as official candidates of BJD.
With no other candidates in the race, their entry to the Rajya Sabha now remains a mere formality. entry While one candidate requires at least 37 first preference votes, the Opposition Congress has only 16 MLAs while the BJP's strength is 10.

The BJD has 117 MLAs in 147 member Assembly.

The election was necessitated as three Rajya Sabha MPs - Pyarimohan Mohapatra, Baishnab Parida, and Bhupinder Singh - will complete their tenure on July 1, 2016.