Bhubaneswar: Former bureaucrat Ashwini Baishnab, who is the Rajya Sabha candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Odisha, officially joined national party here today.

Baishnab was inducted into the saffron party fold in presence of senior party leaders including Odisha BJP President Basanta Panda at the party's state headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

Yesterday, the BJP had declared him as its nominee for bypolls to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.

Interestingly, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) announced to support the BJP's candidature.

The polling will be held on July 5 between 9 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will take place at 5 pm on the very day.