BJD Rajya Sabha candidates set to get elected unopposed

Bhubaneswar: The nomination papers of all the three BJD Rajya Sabha candidates were found to be valid, said an official on Tuesday.

After the scrutiny, the nomination papers of BJD leaders Prashant Nanda, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Achyuta Samanta were found to be valid while the nomination of independent candidate Subash Mohapatra was rejected.

The three BJD leaders had submitted two sets of papers to the Returning Officer in the presence of Chief Minister and party president Naveen Patnaik on March 7.

The BJD candidates would be declared elected as there is no contestant in the fray. The declaration will be held after the withdrawal process is over, said an official.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the polls was March 12. While nomination papers were scrutinised on March 13, the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 15.

The polling and counting are scheduled to be held on March 23.

The three seats will fall vacant as the tenure of AU Singhdeo, Dilip Tirkey and AV Swami is ending on April 2.