The three candidates for the Rajya Sabha by-elections from the State were elected on Friday. While Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) Amar Patnaik and Sasmit Patra were elected to the Parliament’s Upper House, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) nominee Ashwini Vaishnaw was elected with support from the State’s ruling party.
State Assembly Secretary Dasarathi Satpathy, who was the Returning Officer for the by-polls, declared the three candidates as the winners.
The by-elections were held to three vacant seats earlier held by BJD’s Achyuta Samanta, Pratap Keshari
Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik.
The BJD has sent its IT Cell chairman and spokesperson Amar Patnaik and spokesperson Sasmit Patra to the Rajya Sabha in place of Achyuta Samanta and Pratap Deb, respectively. Vaishnaw will replace Soumya Patnaik.
The three seats fell vacant after Samanta and Deb and Patnaik won the recently-held Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, respectively.