Bhubaneswar: At least five MLAs of the opposition BJD and Congress Monday reportedly voted in favour of the BJP-supported Independent nominee Dilip Ray in the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha, for which voting is underway.
The polling for the RS polls is being held in the state after a gap of 12 years, as this time, five candidates are in the fray for four seats, which will fall vacant April 2.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das told reporters that three of its MLAs – Ramesh Jena, Dasarathi Gomango and Sofia Firdous – have “voted in favour of the BJP”.
BJD’s Banki MLA Devi Ranjan Tripathy also announced that he voted in favour of the BJP-backed Independent candidate.
“I oppose our party’s decision to join hands with the Congress. My decision to vote for the BJP-supported Independent candidate is in line with the legacy of Biju Patnaik, who had all along fought against the Congress,” Tripathy said.
Another BJD MLA Souvic Biswal’s wife Dr Ananya Priyadarshini claimed that her husband voted in favour of Ray.
“My husband has voted against the party line, as my father-in-law Pravat Biswal was expelled from the BJD recently. He was humiliated within the party. My husband is observing ‘Maun Vrat’ and has toiled for the BJD, but he has been neglected,” Biswal’s wife told reporters on the assembly premises.
BJD president Naveen Patnaik said, “I have spoken that the BJP and its allies would indulge in ‘horse trading’. Those opposition members who voted in favour of the BJP have criminal records and were sent to jail.”
Two candidates of the BJP are its state unit president Manmohan Samal, and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar. Former Union minister Dilip Ray is also contesting as an Independent and has the support of the saffron party.
The BJD nominees are party leader Santrupt Misra and eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, whom the Congress and the CPI(M) are supporting. There is a possibility of cross-voting as neither the ruling BJP nor the opposition BJD has the required numbers to win the fourth seat.
In the 147-member Odisha assembly, the BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, while the BJD has 48 members after the suspension of two of its legislators on January 15. The Congress has 14 MLAs and one member of CPI(M).
According to the Rajya Sabha arithmetic in Odisha, one candidate requires 30 first preference votes to win a seat. As the BJP has the support of 82 members, it will have 22 surplus votes after electing its two candidates. Similarly, the BJD will have 18 surplus votes after electing its one candidate.
