Bhubaneswar: Notification was issued on Tuesday for by-election to three Rajya Sabha seats vacated by three senior BJD leaders – Achyuta Samanta, Pratap Keshari Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik.
As per the notification issued by the Odisha Assembly Secretariat, candidates can file nominations between 11 am and 3 pm till June 25. While the nomination papers will be taken up for scrutiny on June 26, candidates can withdraw nominations on June 28.
Election will be held during 9 am to 4 pm on July 5. Going by the number of MLAs in the State Assembly, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) would comfortably retain all three Rajya Sabha seats. BJD has 111 MLAs in the 147-member Assembly.
By-election will be held for the seats vacated by Achyuta Samanta, Pratap Keshari Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik following their election to the Lok Sabha and Assembly recently.
While Samanta was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kandhamal, both Deb and Patnaik resigned from Rajya Sabha after they were elected to the State Assembly from the Aul and Khandapada in the recently concluded elections.
Samanta and Patnaik’s term in the Upper House was set to end in April 2024 while the tenure of Deb was up to July, 2022.
There are many aspirants in the BJD in the Rajya Sabha race.
