Two former ministers file papers for RS bypoll in Odisha

Former Odisha ministers A U Singhdeo and Bhupinder Singh today filed their nomination as BJD nominees for the by-election to the two Rajya Sabha seats in the state.
The two filed their nomination papers for the July 3 by-poll slated in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, senior BJD leaders including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Arukh.
The by-elections were necessitated following the election of party leaders Sashi Bhushan Behera and Rabinarayan Mohapatra to the Assembly in the recent elections. The two seats fell vacant after they gave up their Rajya Sabha membership.
While Singhdeo filed his nomination for the seat vacated by Mohapatra, which has nearly four years of its term left, Singh filed his papers for the seat vacated by Behera with about two years of its tenure left, assembly officials said.

BJD which had 117 legislators in the 147-member Assembly was in a strong position for the RS by-polls.
On June 12, BJD candidate and Odia film actor Anubhab Mohanty was elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament as no one filed nomination for the seat.