BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced four candidates of the ruling Biju Janata Dal for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
The BJD named three new candidates - Sulata Deo, Manas Ranjan Mangarj and Niranjan Bishi - and renominated Sasmit Patra for the polls to the upper house of Parliament. The announcement came on a day that marks the third anniversary of the Naveen Patnaik-led government's fifth tenure in the state.
The tenure of three Rajya Sabha MPs from Odisha - Nekkanti Bhaskar Rao, Prasanna Acharya and Sasmit Patra will end on July 1, while another seat in the upper house of Parliament fell vacant due to the resignation of BJD's Subhas Singh.
Singh resigned as Rajya Sabha MP after he became mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation in March this year.
Polling for three Rajya Sabha seats will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on June 10, and the counting of votes will take place at 5 PM on that day.
The by-election to another seat of the upper house of Parliament will take place on June 13 and the counting will be held after the poll.
The BJD, which has 113 MLAs in the 147-member Assembly House, is likely to win all four seats. The opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs respectively.