Bhubaneswar: Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has officially submitted his candidacy for the Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha. Vaishnaw presented his nomination papers to Abanikanta Patnaik, the Rajya Sabha Election Returning Officer, at the Odisha Assembly premises. It was confirmed that he filed two sets of papers.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had earlier declared its endorsement of Vaishnaw's bid for the Rajya Sabha, similar to their support extended in 2019.

Accompanied by Manmohan Samal, the BJP state president, and 13 party MLAs, Vaishnaw formally submitted his nomination papers. Notably, no representatives from the BJD were present during the filing of papers, a contrast to Vaishnaw's previous filing in 2019 when BJD leaders Sasmit Patra and Amar Patnaik were in attendance.

Meanwhile, two BJD candidates, Debashish Samantaray and Subhasish Khuntia, have already lodged their nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Despite the BJD's significant presence in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, securing victory for their three candidates seemed assured. However, in a strategic move, Naveen Patnaik's party opted to field only two candidates, leaving one seat open for BJP's Vaishnaw.

The terms of Vaishnaw, Amar Patnaik, and Prashant Nanda as Rajya Sabha members from Odisha are set to conclude in April of this year.

As per the notification issued by the Assembly secretariat, polling for the Rajya Sabha elections is scheduled for February 27, between 9 am and 4 pm, with vote counting commencing at 5 pm on the same day.

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