New Delhi: Union Minister and BJP leader Ashwini Vaishnaw, BJD leaders Debasish Samantaray and Subashish Khuntia today sworn in as Members of the Rajya Sabha.
The three leaders were administered the oath of office by the Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar in the presence of Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha, Leader of the House Rajya Sabha and other dignitaries, in the Chairman Rajya Sabha’s Conference Hall at the Parliament House in New Delhi.
Shri Samantaray, Shri Khuntia and Shri Vaishnaw were elected unopposed for three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. On February 27, elections for the three Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in April 2024 were scheduled. However, since no others had filed nominations, elections were not held.
Shri Vaishnaw has been re-elected from Odisha for second consecutive time while Shri Samantaray and Shri Khuntia were elected to the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.
Apart from the above three leaders, nine others including former Congress President Sonia Gandhi took oath as Rajya Sabha members.
The others are from different states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Sonia Gandhi became a Member of the Upper House from Rajasthan.
Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Syed Naseer Hussain became Rajya Sabha MPs from Karnataka, BJP leader R P N Singh from Uttar Pradesh, and BJP member Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal.
Sanjay Kumar Jha of JD(U), Subhashish Khuntia, Debashish Samantaray and Madan Rathore were among the others who took oath as Rajya Sabha members.