Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav filed nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday filed her nomination papers as the BJP candidate for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha.

Along with Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal and 13 party MLAs, Vaishnav submitted his papers to Rajya Sabha election returning officer Abnikant Patnaik at the Odisha Assembly complex. They submitted two sets of papers, an official said.

Soon after the nomination, Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, said, “I thank my party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving me another chance to serve the state of Odisha from the Rajya Sabha.

“I pray to Lord Jagannath to give me more energy and inspiration to serve Odisha even better. I will work uninterruptedly like Lord Rama’s squirrel and will not stop working until Odisha does not become a developed state as per PM Modi’s imagination.”

Although Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday announced unconditional support to Vaishnav’s candidature, no one from the regional party was present when the Railway Minister filed his nomination papers. However, when Vaishnav filed his nomination for the 2019 Rajya Sabha by-election, BJD leaders Sasmit Patra and Amar Patnaik were present.

Two BJD candidates Debashish Samantrai and Subhashish Khuntia have already filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Considering the strength of BJD in the Odisha Assembly, the victory of its three candidates was certain. However, Naveen Patnaik’s party preferred to field two candidates and left one seat for BJP’s Vaishnav.

The tenure of Vaishnav, Amar Patnaik and Prashant Nanda as Rajya Sabha members from Odisha will end in April this year.

According to the notification issued by the Assembly Secretariat, voting for the Rajya Sabha elections will take place on February 27 between 9 am to 4 pm. Counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 pm.