Sunit Mishra
Bhubaneswar: Elections for four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will be held March 16. Of the four seats, voting is unlikely in three. However, the fourth seat has triggered fresh political developments.
Instead of attempting to split opposition votes directly, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state has adopted a new political strategy. The party has announced support for senior leader and businessman Dilip Ray, who lost the last Assembly election from the Rourkela constituency.
The BJP’s central leadership in New Delhi has officially nominated state president Manmohan Samal and sitting MP Sujeet Kumar for two Rajya Sabha seats. However, the party did not formally announce a candidate for the third seat. Shortly after the two names were declared, Dilip Ray dramatically informed the media that he would contest for the Rajya Sabha. He also said that all BJP MLAs would support him.
When contacted by the media, Manmohan Samal confirmed that the party would support Dilip Ray’s candidature. Effectively, a BJP leader will contest as an Independent candidate. Earlier, the BJP had indicated it would field three candidates, and that position now appears to have materialised.
With this development, speculation about possible cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election has intensified.
A candidate requires 30 votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. Numerically, the BJP is certain to win two seats and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) one seat.
With the support of three Independent MLAs, the BJP’s strength in the Assembly stands at 82. The BJD has 48 members, the Congress has 14, and the CPI(M) has one MLA.
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The BJD has announced Dr. Datteswar Hota as its common candidate. The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhakta Charan Das chaired a meeting of Congress MLAs at a private hotel Monday. Datteswar Hota was present at the meeting.
Of the 14 Congress MLAs, Ramesh Jena and Sofia Firdous were absent. During the meeting, Congress Legislature Party leader Ramchandra Kadam contacted Sofia Firdous, who cited a prior engagement but assured support for the Congress-backed candidate. Shortly afterward, Ramesh Jena also met Kadam and confirmed he would vote for the party-supported nominee.
Numerically, for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat, the BJD, Congress and CPI(M) together have 33 first-preference votes. Dilip Ray, backed by the BJP, is expected to receive 22 first-preference votes from the ruling party.
Sanatan Mahakud and Arabinda Mahapatra, who were suspended from the BJD, are currently functioning as Independents in the Assembly. Dilip Ray is known to share close ties with senior leader Bijay Mohapatra. As a result, Arabinda Mahapatra, who is Bijay Mohapatra’s son, is expected to support Dilip Ray.
Sanatan Mahakud, who also parted ways with the BJD, is not seen as having any reason to oppose the BJP-backed candidate. If both Mahakud and Mahapatra vote for Ray, his first-preference tally would rise to 24.
However, if Mahakud supports the opposition candidate instead, it could alter the political dynamics in Odisha.
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