Bhubaneswar: Nomination papers of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates for the upcoming elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Achyuta Samanta and Prashanta Nanda, were found to be valid, informed Returning Officer Rajesh Prabhakar Patil today.

On the other hand, nomination of independent candidate Subash Mohapatra was rejected due to lack of proposers in support of him.

Worth mentioning, today (March 13) was the scheduled date for scrutinization of nomination papers. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 15.

With the ruling BJD enjoying a thumping majority of 118 members in the 147-seat Odisha Assembly and opposition Congress and BJP not fielding candidates for the polls, election of all the three BJD candidates is certain.

Notably, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, founder and editor of leading Odia daily ‘Sambad’ and Achyuta Samanta, noted educationist and founder of KIIT and KISS, had joined the party on March 7.

Later on the very day, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik had announced the name of the two and senior party leader Prashanta Nanda as BJD candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections.

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

Worth mentioning, the election was necessitated as tenure of three Rajya Sabha members from Odisha, AU Singhdeo (BJD), Dilip Tirkey (BJD) and AV Swami (Independent) will end on April 2, 2018.