BHUBANESWAR: Polls to Rajya Sabha vacancies including three from Odisha will be held on June 10, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Thursday. Tenure of three Rajya Sabha members from Odisha - N Bhaskar Rao, Prasanna Acharya and Sasmit Patra, will end on July 1.
Speculation is rife in the ruling BJD over candidates for the new vacancies as all the three seats were held by the party. The BJD is set to win all the three seats with a strength of 113 in an assembly of 147. The BJP and Congress with 22 and 9 seats in the Assembly do not have the numbers to win a seat.
There are four Rajya Sabha vacancies in Odisha as BJD member Subash Singh resigned from his seat after getting elected as the Mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). However, the ECI has not notified election for the fourth vacancy.
Notification for the election will be issued on May 24. The last date of nomination filing will be May 31. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on June 1, withdrawal of candidature will be on June 3. Election and counting will be held on June 10.