BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan withdrew his Rajya Sabha by-poll nomination on Tuesday, clearing the path for the party’s official nominee, Mamata Mohanta, to be elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament.
Pradhan had entered the race shortly after Mohanta filed her nomination on August 21. Both their nominations were deemed valid upon scrutiny, according to an official.
“I submitted my nomination following the party’s directive. Today, I withdrew it as per the party’s instruction. I was assigned this task by the BJP leadership and I have fulfilled it as a disciplined party member,” he stated.
Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, the State BJP in-charge, mentioned that Pradhan was a “dummy candidate”. Pradhan, who had previously run for the assembly elections as a BJP candidate from Bhubaneswar-Central, narrowly lost to BJD’s Ananta Narayan Jena.
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Mohanta, a prominent figure from the Kudumi community in Mayurbhanj district, left the BJD and resigned as a Rajya Sabha MP in July, prompting the by-election. She then joined the BJP, which put her forward as its candidate.
With no remaining contenders, Mohanta’s election is now guaranteed.
The BJP holds 74 seats in the 147-seat assembly and is supported by three independent lawmakers while the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Congress party have 51 and 14 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), respectively. Together with one Communist Party of India (Marxist) member, the opposition lacks the numbers to secure the seat.
Odisha has ten Rajya Sabha seats, of which the BJD occupies eight and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds one. The vacancy arose following the resignation of Mohanta.
The elections for the 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats, including the one from Odisha, were scheduled for September 3.
