BHUBANESWAR: BJP candidate Debashish Samantaray was on Thursday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha.
Though the bypoll was scheduled on June 18, Samantaray was declared elected after the deadline for withdrawal of candidates ended on the day and there was no other candidate in the fray except for him. He was announced elected unopposed.
Samantaray had joined BJP on May 26 after he quit the BJD and then resigned as its MP from the Upper House of Parliament. He was nominated by the BJP on June 4 as its candidate for the bypoll from Odisha.
The BJP MP-elect thanked the party’s central and state leadership for nominating him to the Rajya Sabha. With his win, the strength of the BJP in Rajya Sabha from Odisha has increased to four. The BJD now has five members while Dilip Ray was elected as a BJP-backed independent candidate.
Samantaray was first elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJD ticket in February 2024 and would have continued till April, 2030. However, he resigned, creating the vacancy necessitating the bypoll.