Actor-cum-politician Anubhab Mohanty, who had filed his nomination papers for the sole Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha on a BJD ticket, was on Thursday elected unopposed as no one else filed nomination against him.
The two nomination papers filed by Shyam Babu Subudhi and Ganeswar Mishra had been rejected earlier on June 10 since they did not have the requisite numbers of proposers. In his first reaction after being elected to the Rajya Sabha, Mohanty said he would work for the State and its people and uphold the honour of the State.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India announced on Thursday that the by-elections to Rajya Sabha for the two vacant seats from the State would be held on July 3,A formal notification to this effect would be issued on June 16 and the last date for filing of nominations is June 23.The two seats have fallen vacant as BJD members of the Upper House Sashibhushan Behera and Rabinarayan Mohapatra resigned after they were elected to the State Assembly in the recent elections.