Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Soon after the Odisha Assembly Secretariat Returning Officer Dasarathi Satpathy issuing notifications for the March 26 Rajya Sabha polls for 4 seats in the State, hectic lobby has been started by aspirants to get a ticket.
The terms of four MPs Anubhav Mohanty, Narendra Kumar Swain and Sarojini Hembram of BJD and Ranjib Biswal of Congress from Odisha in Rajya Sabha will expire on April 2, 2020.
As per the notification, the nomination papers may be delivered by a candidate or by any of his/her proposers to Odisha Assembly Secretary Dasharathi Satapathy or to Odisha Assembly Deputy Secretary Shishir Kanta Swain, the Assistant Returning Officer, at the Conference Hall of Assembly between 11.00 am and 3.00 pm on any day by March 13, 2020.
The nomination papers will be taken for scrutiny at 11.30 am at Assembly building on March 16.The last date for withdrawal of candidatures has been fixed on March 18. The poll will be conducted between 9.00 am and 4.00 pm at Committee Room No. 54 of Odisha Assembly building on March 26.
Ticket aspirants are started making beeline at Naveen Niwas.“With BJD boss has been focusing more women community, a woman candidate must out of 4, and sources said adding a candidate from OBC community also not deniable,” BJD MP and spokesperson Amar Patnaik however hinted that the Party is preparing to fight for all 4 seats alone.
Sources said leaders like Manoj Nayak , Srimayee Mishra, Prasanna Patsani, Ramesh Chhoupattnaik, Dilip Ray and more on line. The BJD had in 2019 supported BJP candidate and former Odish cadre IAS officer Ashwini Vaishnav in the Rajya Sabha elections. Vaishnav was then come under fire from Congress for his close proximity with Mines Contractor B Prabhakaran of Tamil Nadu’s Salem.
While the BJD is set to retain its three seats, it is not sure about bagging the fourth seat that is being vacated by the Congress MP.
According to the existing formula for the Rajya Sabha polls, one candidate needs at least 29 first preference seats for victory. Since BJD has 113 MLAs, it can easily win three seats, but it is short of three members to win the fourth seat.
The BJP, with 23 MLAs which is less by 6 first preference votes for the RS Polls, said it will field one candidate for the fourth seat. The Congress has only 9 MLAs in the 147 member-strong House. The CPI(M) has only one member in the House and there is also an Independent MLA.
