Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to rest, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced candidates as the party's nominees for the upcoming elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.

The candidates are Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Ama Odisha Party Chief and founder and editor of leading Odia daily 'Sambad', Achyuta Samanta, noted educationist and founder of KIIT and KISS and senior party leader Prashanta Nanda.

"The three Rajya Sabha candidates for the Biju Janata Dal will be Sri Prashant Nanda, Sri Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Sri Achyuta Samanta," Naveen told reporters here.

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Samanta  joined the regional party earlier in the day at Naveen Niwas (CM's residence) in presence of senior party leaders.

Both Patnaik and Samanta said they would fight for Odisha’s interest in the Parliament.

Notably, the last date for filing nomination papers for the polls is March 12. While nomination papers will be scrutinized on March 13, the last date for withdrawal of of candidature is March 15.

The polling and counting will be held between 9.00 am and 4.00 pm on March 23.

Worth mentioning, three seats in Rajya Sabha from Odisha will be lying vacant after the tenure of AU Singhdeo (BJD), Dilip Tirkey (BJD) and AV Swami (Independent) ending on April 2, 2018.