New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today named Debashish Samantaray as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election scheduled to be held on June 18.

The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after Samantaray submitted his resignation to Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan on May 25. He had been elected to the Upper House in April 2024 as a candidate of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and was originally set to serve until April 2030.

Samantaray also resigned from the primary membership of the BJD on May 25. A day later, on May 26, he joined the BJP at a programme held at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

Notably, the three-time MLA has represented the Tirtol and Barabati-Cuttack constituencies in the Odisha Legislative Assembly during 2000–2004, 2009–2014 and 2014–2019.

Meanwhile, the nomination process for the Rajya Sabha poll began on June 1. The last date for filing nominations is June 8, while scrutiny will take place on June 9. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until June 11.

If more than one candidate remains in the fray after the withdrawal deadline, polling will be conducted on June 18, with counting of votes scheduled for the same day.