Three senior Biju Janata Dal leaders – Prasanna Acharya, Bishnu Charan Das and N. Bhaskar Rao – filed their nomination papers for three Rajya Sabha seats here on Monday.
They filed their papers before the Returning officer at the Odisha Assembly in the presence of Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
The elections are scheduled to be held on June 11.
Several Ministers and legislators of the party were also present when the leaders filed their nomination papers.
Mr. Acharya, Mr. Das and Mr. Rao are all set to get elected to the Rajya Sabha as the BJD has 117 legislators in the 147-member Odisha Assembly. One candidate needs at least 37 first preference votes. While the Opposition Congress has 16 legislators, the BJP has 10.
Talking to presspersons after filing their papers, the leaders said that once elected to the Rajya Sabha, they will take up various issues to protect the interests of the State.
The election for the three seats was necessitated as the tenure of two BJD Members – Baishnab Parida and Bhupinder Singh – and Independent Member Pyarimohan Mohapatra was set to end on July 1.
The Chief Minister expressed his delight that they will be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
