Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw submits nomination for Rajya Sabha polls

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday filed his nomination paper as a BJP candidate for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha.

Vaishnaw submitted his papers to Rajya Sabha Election Returning Officer Abanikanta Patnaik in the Odisha Assembly premises. He submitted two sets of paper, an official said.

The ruling BJD had on Wednesday announced its support for Vaishnaw's candidature in the Rajya Sabha polls, as it had done in 2019.

Vaishnaw, who is the Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Minister, was accompanied by BJP state president Manmohan Samal and 13 party MLAs while submitting his papers.

No BJD leader was present when the Union minister filed his papers. When Vaishnaw had filed his papers for the 2019 Rajya Sabha bypoll, BJD leaders Sasmit Patra and Amar Patnaik were present.

Two BJD candidates Debashish Samantaray and Subhasish Khuntia have already filed their nomination papers for the RS polls.

Considering the strength of the BJD in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the victory of its three candidates had been certain. However, Naveen Patnaik's party preferred to field two candidates and left one seat for BJP candidate Vaishnaw.

The tenure of Vaishnaw, Amar Patnaik and Prashant Nanda as RS member from Odisha will end in April this year.

According to notification issued by the Assembly secretariat, the polling for the RS elections will be held on February 27 between 9 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will be held on the very day at 5 pm.