The BJP on Tuesday named its Odisha state unit president, Manmohan Samal, and re-nominated sitting MP Sujeet Kumar as its candidates for the upcoming March 16 Rajya Sabha elections. The saffron party also announced its full support for former Union minister and veteran leader Dilip Ray, who will be contesting the polls as an Independent candidate.
Ray, a seasoned political warhorse who secured a Rajya Sabha seat through cross-voting in 2002, expressed total confidence in his victory. This comes even though he currently lacks the magic number of 30 first preference votes required to win.
By backing Ray—a leader who has served as a minister under three different Prime Ministers—Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and State President Manmohan Samal signalled their intent to sweep the polls.
The BJP leadership expressed high morale regarding the 72-year-old leader’s prospects, viewing this as a chance for the saffron camp to secure three out of the four vacant seats.
Neither the BJP nor the BJD has the required number to win the fourth seat. The ruling and opposition parties are expected to win comfortably with two and one seats, respectively.
According to Rajya Sabha arithmetic, a candidate in Odisha needs 30 first preference votes to win a seat. With 82 MLAs, the BJP can easily elect Samal and Kumar, leaving them with 22 surplus votes—eight short of the 30 needed for a third victory.
This sets up a high-stakes battle for the fourth seat between Ray and the BJD’s “common” candidate, noted physician Dr. Datteswar Hota.
Manmohan Samal, BJP’s first candidate and the party’s state president, is poised to return to the Upper House after a 22-year hiatus. Although he lost his seat in the 2024 assembly polls, he was re-elected unopposed as state president in July 2025.
Samal is widely credited with leading the BJP to its historic victory in 2024, which dismantled the BJD’s 24-year reign, as well as securing the Nuapada by-poll victory last year.
The second nominee, Sujeet Kumar, is a sitting Rajya Sabha MP whose current term ends in April. Kumar crossed over to the BJP in September 2024 after resigning from the BJD, bringing further momentum to the party’s ranks.
BJD president Naveen Patnaik has fielded Santrupt Misra and Dr. Datteswar Hota. Patnaik has appealed for cross-party support for Dr Hota, citing his philanthropic work. Interestingly, the Congress, lacking the numbers to field its own candidate, has pledged its 14 votes (plus one from the CPI(M)) to Dr. Hota, framing him as a unified opposition candidate.
The BJP, also eyeing that seat, has decided to back Dilip Ray.
Chief Minister Majhi lauded Ray’s extensive experience as a state minister, Union minister, and two-time Rajya Sabha MP, predicting he would win “with flying colours.”
“Our party will support Ray, who has a long experience in Odisha Assembly as a minister in the state, a Union minister and also a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. I am confident that Ray will win the polls with flying colours,” the CM said.
Samal said that the party would not have come forward in Ray’s support, had it not been confident about his victory. “I decided to contest as I am confident of winning the seat. I have well-wishers in all parties,” Ray told reporters, not revealing from where he was expecting support other than the BJP’s 22 MLAs.
Asked how he would generate eight more votes, Ray said, “Wait for some days, you will know everything.”
State Congress president Bhakta Charan Das raised concerns about potential ‘horse-trading.’
On Tuesday, he said, “All our 14 party MLAs and one member of the CPI(M) are intact and vote for Hota. He is a common candidate fielded by the BJD and supported by the Congress.”
In the 2002 Rajya Sabha polls, Ray, as an independent candidate, defeated the Congress through cross-voting by BJD and BJP MLAs. He was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in 1996 as a Janata Dal nominee. Ray has also been a member of the council of ministers under PMs Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral.
A hotelier-turned-politician and a close aide to Naveen Patnaik’s father, Biju Patnaik, Ray joined the BJP in 2009 and won the Rourkela assembly seat in 2014. Ray’s career faced a hurdle with a 2020 conviction in a 1999 coal block case, but the Delhi High Court stayed that conviction in April 2024, clearing his path for this comeback.
The BJD, after electing one member, would be left with 18 surplus votes. The party expects that with the support of 14 MLAs of Congress and one member of CPI(M), its “common” candidate could easily win.
As per the Election Commission’s notification, the deadline for nominations is March 5, with scrutiny on March 6. Candidates have until March 9 to withdraw their nomination. Polling will be conducted on March 16 from 9 am to 4 pm, and counting of votes will begin at 5 pm on the same day.
