Bhubaneswar, Mar 3 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday named its Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar as its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, and announced support for former Union minister Dilip Ray, who will contest as an Independent candidate.
BJP leader and former union minister Dilip Ray also stated that he would contest the biennial polls as an Independent candidate, which can be seen as the saffron camp’s attempt to win one of the four seats for which no party in Odisha has the required numbers.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced that the BJP will support Ray.
Samal, also a former state minister, had lost the Odisha assembly polls in 2024 from the Chandabali segment in Bhadrak district by a margin of 1,916 votes. He was re-elected unopposed in July 2025 as the party’s state president for a fourth term.
Samal’s leadership has been credited for the BJP’s impressive victory in the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections ending the 24-year rule of the BJD, and the subsequent Nuapada by-polls last year.
Kumar is the sitting Rajya Sabha MP and his tenure will complete in April. He had joined the BJP in September 2024 after resigning from the BJD.
The ruling BJP is set to win two seats in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, and the BJD is certain to bag one, while all eyes are on the fourth seat going to be vacant in April. While the BJD fielded an eminent doctor, Datteswar Hota, for that seat, the Congress announced its support for him.
In this situation, BJP leader Dilip Ray announced that he will be another candidate for the election.
“I have decided to contest the Rajya Sabha polls as an Independent candidate. I will talk about this after filing nomination papers on March 5,” Ray, a former two-time Rajya Sabha MP, told reporters.
The BJD had already announced its senior party leader Santrupt Misra as its candidate and eminent doctor Datteswar Hota as a “common” opposition candidfate for the polls.
In the 147-member Odisha Legislative Assembly, the BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, totalling a combined strength of 82 votes. The BJD’s tally stands at 48 following the suspension of two of its legislators last month. The Congress has 14 MLAs, and the CPI(M) has one.
According to Rajya Sabha arithmetic, one candidate in Odisha required at least 30 first preference votes to win a seat. With the support of 82 MLAs, the BJP is comfortably positioned to win two seats and will have 22 surplus votes. But, the party faces short of eight votes to get its third candidate win the polls.
The BJD, after electing one member, would be left with 18 surplus votes. The party expects that with the support of 14 MLAs of Congress and one member of CPI(M), its “common” candidate could easily win.
However, if Ray files his nomination as an Independent candidate, there will be a fight for the fourth seat.
The chief minister said, “Our party will support Ray, who has a long experience in Odisha Assembly as a minister in the state, a Union minister and also a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. I am confident, Ray will win the polls with flying colours,” Majhi said.
According ECI notification, the last date for filing nominations is March 5, while scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 6. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until March 9.
Polling will be conducted on March 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and counting of votes will begin at 5 p.m. on the same day. PTI AAM BDC AAM NN
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