Bhubaneswar: Election Commission Wednesday announced that the bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha that has been vacated by Debashish Samantaray will be held June 18.
Samantaray, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJD ticket in 2024 and was to continue till 2030, resigned both from the membership of the Upper House of Parliament as well as from the party on Monday. He joined the BJP the next day.
The poll panel, in a statement, said a formal notification for the bye-election will be issued June 1, and the last date of filing of nominations is June 8.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held June 9, and candidates can withdraw their nomination June 11.
“The voting for the lone Rajya Sabha seat will be held between 9 am and 4 pm June 18 if there is more than one candidate in the fray. The counting of votes will be conducted the same day at 5 pm,” an official said.
Senior BJP leader and revenue minister Suresh Pujari said that the party’s parliamentary board will decide on the candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll.
“Samantaray’s name may also be considered as it has been done in the case of Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta,” he said.
After the BJD’s defeat in 2024, two of its MPs, Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta, had joined the BJP and were later re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.
“A similar strategy may be taken in the case of Samantray also,” a senior BJP leader said.
With the resignation of Samantaray, the BJD’s strength in Rajya Sabha has come down to five, while the BJP has three MPs from Odisha to the Upper House, along with the party-supported Independent MP Dilip Ray.
