Rajya Sabha polls: BJD names 4 candidates, Sasmit Patra nominated for 2nd time
India Today
The BJP has announced four candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, with senior leader Sasmit Patra nominated for the second time.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has nominated four candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections slated to be held next month, the party said in a release on Sunday (May 29)
The nominees fielded by the BJD for four vacant Rajya Sabha seats are Sulata Deo, Manas Ranjan Mangaraj, Niranjan Bishi, and sitting MP Sasmit Patra.
The tenure of senior BJD leader Sasmit Patra, who represents Odisha in the Rajya Sabha, will end on July 1. He has been a member of Parliament since June 28, 2019, and is the party’s chief whip in the Upper House.
Polls to three seats are scheduled to be held on June 10, and bypoll to one seat -- vacated by BJD’s Subhas Singh after being elected as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation mayor is scheduled on June 13.
Voting will be conducted from 9 am to 4 pm on both the dates, and the counting process will be held the same day as the elections.
Sources told PTI that the ruling BJD is likely to capture all four Rajya Sabha seats, as the opposition BJP and the Congress are expected to keep away from the contest.
