Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates Amar Patnaik and Sasmit Patra today filed their nominations for by-polls to three Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha.
BJD IT cell chief Amar Patnaik and party spokesperson Sasmit Patra filed their nomination papers before the concerned Returning Officer in the presence of party supremo Naveen Patnaik and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha at the Odisha Assembly here.
Besides them, BJD-backed BJP candidate Ashwini Baishnab also filed his nomination papers for the ensuing polls.
The election to three Rajya Sabha seats was necessitated following the vacant of seats of Achyuta Samanta, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Pratap Keshari Deb.
Patnaik and Deb resigned from the upper house after they got elected to the 16th Odisha assembly while Samanta vacated the seat after he became a Lok Sabha member from Kandhamal.
Tenure of Patnaik and Samanta is due till April 2024 while that of Deb is till July 2022.
The BJD candidates filed nomination for vacant seats of Achyuta Samanta and Pratap Keshari Deb, respectively, sources said.
The polls will be held on July 5 between 9 am and 4 pm and counting of votes will also be held on the same day.