Bhubaneswar: Three candidates from Odisha – Amar Patnaik, Sasmit Patra and Ashwini Vaishnaw were elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed in the by-polls held here today.
Biju Janata Dal’s Amar Patnaik and Sasmit Patra were elected to the Upper House unanimously while BJP nominee Ashwini Vaishnaw was elected with support from the BJD.
Odisha Assembly Secretary Dasarathi Satpathy, who is also the returning officer for the by-elections, declared them winners as there were only three candidates from three vacant seats for the Rajya Sabha polls.
The by-polls were necessitated due to vacancy of seats after Achyuta Samanta, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Pratap Keshari Deb resigned from Rajya Sabha following their victories in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
Samanta was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kandhamal, Patnaik and Deb were elected to the Assembly from Khandapada and Aul, respectively.