All five Rajya Sabha candidates file nomination in Odisha

All the five candidates seeking election to the Rajya Sabha filed their nominations on Thursday, March 6, 2026, in the presence of senior party leaders.

President of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Manmohan Samal; sitting BJP Rajya Sabha member Sujeet Kumar; Backed by the Saffron Party, hotelier and former Union Coal Minister Dilip Ray has submitted his papers.

On the other hand, Santrupta Mishra, political advisor to former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and Dr. Datteswar Hota also reached the Odisha Legislative Assembly to file his nomination.

Five candidates are fighting for four seats from Odisha’s quota that will fall vacant on April 2. The terms of BJD MPs Niranjan Bishi and Muzibulla Khan as well as BJP MPs Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar are ending.

The victory of Mr. Samal (BJP), Mr. Kumar (BJP) and Mr. Mishra (BJD) was abandoned because they needed the support of a minimum of 30 MLAs. Both the BJP and the BJD have the required number of MLAs to ensure their candidates are successful.

However, Dr. There will be a conflict between Hota and Mr. Ray. BJD’s common candidate Dr. Hota has the support of BJD (18 remaining legislators), 14 Congress MLAs and only CPI MLAs and as per statistics this is enough for him to win. However, the political analyst is of the view that anything is possible given that Mr Ray is known for political maneuvers and supports the ruling BJP. The hotelier won a surprise victory as an independent candidate in 2002. The support of the six MLAs is said to be insufficient.

“I am confident that our two candidates will achieve a very happy victory,” BJD chief Mr. Patnaik said.