Bhubaneswar: With the issuance of formal notification for election to three RS seats from Odisha, hectic lobby began in Governing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as the regional party is all set to win all three seats without any hurdle.
Senior BJD leaders including those who have not got any position for a long time, those who lost the election and those who have recently joined the party are lobbying hard to get a party ticket for the election. There is buzz within the party that the Party Supremo might pick at least one woman candidate for the election.
Names of many leaders including Sasmit Patra , Pradeep Majhi, Sulata Deo, Shrimayee Mishra, Prasanna Patsani, Santosh Amat, Susmita Bagchi and Manas Mangaraj are doing the rounds.
However, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will take the final call. Naveen, who always takes surprise moves by picking up a candidate at the grassroots level, may also repeat the same in this poll.
The Secretariat of the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday issued an official notification for the conduct of the election to three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the State.
“An election is to be held of three members to the Council of States by the elected members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly in pursuance of Election Commission notification,” read the official notice.
As per the notification, candidates can file their nomination papers till May 31. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on June 1. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 3. If required, an election will be held on June 10. The polling will be held from 9 AM to 4 PM while counting of votes will take place at 5 PM, as per the schedule.
Notably, the tenure of RS MPs Prasanna Acharya, N Bhaskar Rao and Sasmit Patra will end on July 1.