Rajya Sabha elections: Amit Shah meets Odisha BJP MLAs ahead of March 16 vote

Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Odisha BJP MLAs and the party’s Rajya Sabha poll candidates in Bhubaneswar ahead of the March 16 vote. The meeting at the BJP state headquarters covered organisational issues and election planning, with MLAs asked to support all three candidates, including Independent nominee Dilip Ray backed by the BJP.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Odisha BJP MLAs and Rajya Sabha candidates on Friday. The meeting came before the March 16 elections for the Upper House. Shah visited the BJP state headquarters during a day-long Odisha tour. Shah also attended several official programmes through the day.

At the headquarters, Shah held a closed-door session with the chief minister. The discussion also included MLAs, MPs, ministers and three candidates. The party named Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal and MP Sujeet Kumar as nominees. BJP also supported former Union minister Dilip Ray, who is contesting as an Independent.

Odisha Rajya Sabha elections: What BJP leaders said after Amit Shah meeting

Manmohan Samal said Shah focused on organisational issues. However, Bargarh MP Pradip Purohit said the Rajya Sabha contest also came up. Purohit said MLAs were asked to secure victory for all three candidates. The same MLAs will vote in the March 16 elections.

BJP spokesperson Surath Biswal linked Shah’s visit to election planning. "He is the biggest poll strategist of our party... He suggested how to win the Rajya Sabha polls,\" Biswal said. Biswal said it was clear the Rajya Sabha elections were discussed. BJP has officially named two candidates but is also supporting Dilip Ray.

Odisha Rajya Sabha elections: Seats, expiring terms and voting math

Rajya Sabha elections will be held for four Odisha seats. The terms of Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan of BJD end on April 2. The terms of Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta of BJP also expire then. According to Odisha’s Rajya Sabha arithmetic, a candidate needs at least 30 first-preference votes.

In the Odisha Assembly, BJP has 79 MLAs and support from three Independents. That takes BJP’s working strength to 82. This is eight short of what is needed to elect three MPs. BJD has 48 MLAs after two members were suspended last month.

BJD can elect one MP and still hold 18 surplus first-preference votes. BJD would still need another 12 votes to win a second seat. Congress has 14 MLAs and the CPIM has one MLA. Neither BJP nor BJD can win the fourth seat without extra support.

Odisha Rajya Sabha elections: Common candidate and nomination scrutiny

For the fourth seat, BJD president Naveen Patnaik fielded urologist Dr Datteswar Hota. Patnaik also appealed to all parties to vote for Hota. Congress and CPIM supported Hota, while BJP backed Dilip Ray. The contest has five candidates in total for the four seats.

The Odisha Assembly secretariat said all five nomination papers were valid. The papers were checked during scrutiny on Friday. With voting set for March 16, parties are now counting numbers closely. The outcome will decide who fills the four seats as terms end on April 2.

With inputs from PTI