Bhubaneswar: A total of five candidates – two each from the BJP and the BJD, and one supported by the saffron party – filed their nomination papers for four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, sparking the possibility of cross-voting as neither the ruling party nor the opposition has the required numbers to win the fourth seat.
Two official candidates of the BJP – the party’s state unit president Manmohan Samal and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar – filed their nomination papers, besides former Union minister Dilip Ray, who is contesting as an Independent but has the support of the saffron party.
BJD nominees – party leader Santrupt Misra and eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, whom the Congress and the CPI(M) are supporting – also filed their papers.
Thursday is the last day of filing nomination papers for the March 16 biennial elections.
“At the end of the nomination filing time at 3 pm, five candidates have filed their papers for the four RS seats,” an official of the Odisha Assembly said.
The polling will be conducted March 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, and counting of votes will begin at 5 pm on the same day.
The ruling BJP and opposition BJD are expected to win comfortably in two and one seats, respectively. The contest is likely for the fourth seat between Ray and Hota.
The BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, totalling 82, which is eight short of the number required for electing three MPs. The opposition BJD has 48 MLAs, after two of its members were suspended last month. After electing one MP, it will have 18 first-preference votes but will require another 12 to bag the second seat. The Congress has 14 MLAs, and the CPI(M) has one.
Accompanied by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, senior ministers and leaders, Samal and Kumar filed their nomination papers here, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling said. He also added that the BJP-supported Ray also filed his papers at the same time.
“We hope that all three nomination papers will be valid during scrutiny,” Mahaling said.
Earlier, both Samal and Kumar visited Sri Ram Mandir in the city and came in a procession to the Assembly building, where they filed nomination papers.
Around an hour before the BJP candidates, BJD nominees Misra and Hota also submitted their nominations in presence of BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, state Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das, CPI(M) state secretary Suresh Panigrahy, among others.
“I am very glad to announce that our two candidates have filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections. I congratulate both of them. I am sure they will succeed,” Patnaik told reporters.
Earlier, Patnaik had appealed to all the parties to support Hota as a “common candidate”.
The nomination filing on the Assembly premises witnessed a unique scene when Patnaik and Congress leaders stood shoulder to shoulder. The BJD had ousted the Congress from power 26 years ago, and the two parties have long been rivals.
Both sides have now come together to prevent the BJP from winning three of the four Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant from the state.
When asked about the possible alliance with the Congress and his commitments towards secularism, Patnaik said, “Time always tells the history.”
After filing his paper, Ray said: “I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, CM Mohan Charan Majhi, Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal for supporting my candidature. I have full confidence to win the RS polls.”
The BJP leader, an old warhorse, said that he had already won the Rajya Sabha election under a similar situation in 2002.
Asked whether he sees cross-voting during the RS polls, Ray said: “I have well-wishers in all parties. I will intensify campaigning from tomorrow to ensure my victory.”
The Rajya Sabha elections will be held as the tenures of BJD’s Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan, and BJP’s Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta would end April 2.
