Bhubaneswar, June 11 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Debashish Samantaray was on Thursday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha, as no other candidate was in the fray for the lone vacant seat.

Samantaray had earlier filed his nomination papers for the by-election to the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha at the State Assembly premises here on June 5.

According to the election schedule, nominations closed on June 8, while June 11 was the last date for withdrawal of candidature. Meanwhile, voting, if necessary, and the counting of votes are scheduled for June 18. With no other aspirants in the fray after the withdrawal deadline expired on Thursday, Samantaray was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

After being elected, Samantaray said, “I have been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha as a BJP candidate, so I extend my gratitude to BJP national president Nitin Navin, PM Modi, BJP state president Manmohan Samal and Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. BJP welcomed me to the party, and I will work dedicatedly for the party. I will work to strengthen the party in every way I can and carry out the responsibilities entrusted to me by the party.”

Notably, the Rajya Sabha seat has been lying vacant since Samantaray’s resignation from the membership of the Upper House of Parliament on May 25. He had also resigned from the primary membership of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on the same day in a letter addressed to BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik, citing continuous sidelining within the party.

His resignation from the Rajya Sabha brought down the regional party’s strength in the Upper House to five members.

The former BJD heavyweight later joined the ruling BJP on May 26. It is worth noting that the three-time MLA was also elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from the Tirtol and Barabati-Cuttack constituencies during 2000-2004, 2009-2014 and 2014-2019.

–IANS

gyan/pgh