Bhubaneswar: As it was expected, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today named senior tribal leader Mamata Mohanta as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-election in Odisha.
The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party has given its approval for Mamata’s candidature for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-elections.
It is to be noted here that Mamata Mohanta, a prominent tribal leader from the Kudumi community in Mayurbhanj district, resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Rajya Sabha Membership on July 31 and joined the saffron fold on the following day (August 1).
The saffron party also fielded Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli from Assam, Manan Kumar Mishra from Bihar, Kiran Choudhary from Haryana, George Kurian from Madhya Pradesh, Dhairyashil Patil from Maharashtra, Sardar Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan, Rajib Bhattacharjee from Tripura.
As per the notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Rajya Sabha by-elections for 12 vacant seats including one from Odisha will be held on September 3 and the results will be announced on the same day. The last date for filing of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha by-elections is August 21.
The 12 Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant as 10 sitting members including Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal and Jyotiraditya Scindia, were elected to the Lok Sabha and two others MP K-Keshav Rao from Telangana resigned on July 5 and BJD’s MP Mamata Mohanta resigned on July 31 from their respective seats and joined BJP.
