BJD fields Santrupt Misra and Dr Datteswar Hota for Rajya Sabha election

Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to the rest, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik today named Santrupt Misra and Dr Datteswar Hota as party candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election in Odisha.

According to Patnaik, Santrupt Misra will be the BJD candidate for the assured seat, given the number of MLAs it has in the Odisha assembly, while Dr Datteswar Hota is fielded as the common candidate for the fourth seat.

While announcing the names of the candidates at his residence, the BJD supremo said, “For the Rajya Sabha election, our party has decided to give two candidates. The first candidate for the third seat is Dr Santrupt Misra, a senior member from our party. The second candidate for the fourth seat is a common candidate Dr Datteswar Hota, a renowned doctor from Odisha, who was the first Vice Chancellor of Odisha University of Health Sciences (OUHS) and is also the principal of SCB Medical College.”

“Since he (Datteswar Hota) is common candidate, I would appeal to all the party to support him and send him to the Rajya Sabha,” he added.

The Rajya Sabha election in Odisha will be held for four seats. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with 79 MLAs and support from Independents, is poised to secure two seats comfortably, the BJD has the numbers for one assured seat with 48 MLAs (plus 2 suspended members).

However, none of the party has the number for the fourth seat and none of them van win it independently without cross-voting or support. However, BJD fielded Dr Datteswar Hota for this fourth seat. Now the conch party requires backing from either the BJP or Congress to win the fourth seat.