Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janta Dal (BJD) on Sunday announced its candidates for the election of four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha.
"Naveen Patnaik, President, Biju Janata Dal has nominated, Sulata Deo, Manas Ranjan Mangaraj, Dr Sasmit Patra and Niranjan Bishi as BJD candidates for 4 vacant posts of Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from State," reads the BJD notification.
In order to give woman representation, the party has nominated Sulata Deo, who is currently serving as Advisor to the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Odisha.
BJD has nominated Sasmit Patra for the Upper House of the Parliament for the second time.
Further, BJD general secretary (Media Affairs) Manas Ranjan Mangaraj has also become the party nominee for the Rajya Sabha elections. Mangaraj also serves as Media Advisor to State Government.
BJD has also nominated Niranjan Bishi a tribal face from Western Odisha for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Notably, three Rajya Sabha MPs namely N Bhaskar Rao, Prasanna Acharya and Sasmit Patra are retiring from the upper House on July 1. One Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha fell vacant after Subhash Singh resigned from the post after being elected as the Mayor of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation in March 2022.
Several members of the Rajya Sabha will retire between June 21 and August 1. Elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats spread across 15 states will take place on June 10. While 11 seats will fall vacant in Uttar Pradesh, six members each will retire from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, five from Bihar and four each from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
