Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJP in Odisha is poised to win two seats in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, and the opposition BJD is set to win one, while political maneuvering will begin for the fourth seat, where no party has the numbers to win on its own.
The Election Commission announced on Wednesday that the biennial elections in 10 states, including Odisha, will be held on March 16. Four upper house seats from Odisha will fall vacant on April 2, as the terms of Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan of the BJD, and Sujit Kumar and Mamata Mohanta of the BJP, have completed.
In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the ruling BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three independents. Following the suspension of two of its MLAs last month, the opposition BJD’s number of MLAs has dropped to 48. The Congress has 14 MLAs, while the CPI(M) has one member. According to Rajya Sabha electoral mathematics, a candidate needs at least 30 first preference votes to win a seat. The BJP can comfortably win two seats, while the BJD can win one. However, the contest for the fourth seat is still open.
After ensuring the victory of its two candidates, the BJP will have 22 surplus votes – eight less than the required number for the third seat. After electing one member, the BJD will be left with 18 surplus votes. The Congress, with 14 MLAs, does not have enough numbers to win the seat alone, even if it receives the support of a CPI(M) member.
Congress Legislative Party leader Ram Chandra Kadam said the party will field a candidate despite its numerical disadvantage.
He said the Congress has proposed that the BJD either field a candidate for the fourth seat with its support or support the Congress candidate to prevent the BJP from winning.
Kadam said that Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhakta Charan Das may meet with BJD President Naveen Patnaik to discuss the issue. He added that Congress is also ready to field a joint candidate with the support of both parties.
Earlier, Das had said that Congress would definitely contest the Rajya Sabha elections and that a candidate could be chosen from within or outside the party.
He also said that if Congress and BJD unite, a candidate could win, although he was unsure whether the regional party would agree to such an arrangement.
Neither Patnaik nor the BJD has officially responded to this proposal.
Meanwhile, the BJP expressed confidence that it would win the fourth seat as well.
We should wait. The BJP will win as many seats as possible and spring a surprise, BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathi told reporters outside the assembly.
