Byelections to 3 Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha on July 5

BHUBANESWAR: Byelection to three Rajya Sabha seats in the state, vacated by Achyuta Samanta, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Pratap Keshari Deb, will be held on July 5.
Patnaik and Deb resigned from the Upper House after they were elected to the 16th state assembly. Samanta vacated the seat after he became a Lok Sabha member from Kandhamal. The tenure of Patnaik and Samanta was to end in April 2024, while that of Deb was to end in July 2022.
Though actor Anubhav Mohanty also resigned from the Rajya Sabha after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Kendrapada, there will be no byelection for his seat as less than a year is left for the completion of his tenure.Mohanty’s Rajya Sabha term will end in April next year.
Notification for the byelection will be issued on June 18. The last date to file nomination is June 25. On July 5, election will be held from 9 am to 4 pm.
Going by the number of MLAs in the assembly, BJD will comfortably retain all three Rajya Sabha seats. Many senior party leaders, who were denied tickets during the recent polls, are eyeing Rajya Sabha berths.