RS polls: BJP names Odisha party chief Manmohan Samal, MP as nominees; backs Independent Dilip Ray

Bhubaneswar, Mar 3 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday named its Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and re-nominated its MP Sujeet Kumar as its nominees for the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, and announced support for party leader and former Union minister Dilip Ray, who will contest as an Independent candidate.

Ray, an old warhorse in politics who won a Rajya Sabha seat through cross-voting in 2002, claimed that he was confident to win this time too, despite not having the required magic number of 30 first preference votes in his favour.

Announcing the party’s support for Ray, who had the distinction of serving as a minister under three Prime Ministers, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and the state BJP president expressed confidence over the victory of the 72-year-old leader.

BJP’s open support to Ray can be seen as the saffron camp’s attempt to win three of the four 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, one candidate in Odisha required at least 30 first preference votes to win a seat. With the support of 82 MLAs, the BJP is comfortably positioned to win two seats and will have 22 surplus votes. But, the party faces short of eight votes to get its third candidate win the polls. The contest is likely for the fourth seat between Ray and BJD’s “common” candidate, Dr Datteswar Hota.

The BJP’s first candidate and the party’s state president Manomhan Samal, is set to enter the Upper House of Parliament after 22 years. He is also a former state minister who lost the 2024 assembly polls. He was re-elected unopposed in July 2025 as the party’s state president for a fourth term.

Samal’s leadership has been credited for the BJP’s impressive victory in the 2024 state elections, ending the 24-year rule of the BJD, and the subsequent Nuapada by-polls last year.

The other candidate, Sujeet Kumar, is the sitting Rajya Sabha MP, and his tenure will complete in April. He had joined the BJP in September 2024 after resigning from the BJD.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik earlier named two candidates, party leader Santrupt Misra and Datteswar Hota, and appealed to all parties to support the physician for his philanthropic activities. The Congress, which does not have the required number to make its candidate win, has supported Dr Hota’s candidature for the fourth seat.

The BJP, also eyeing that seat, has decided to back Dilip Ray.

The chief minister said, “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.” 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 had earlier alleged that the BJP might resort to horse trading to win the fourth seat.

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.

Hotelier-turned-politician and a close aide of Naveen Patnaik's father Biju Patnaik, Ray joined the BJP in 2009 and won the Rourkela assembly seat in 2014. He was convicted by a Special CBI court in 2020 in a coal block allocation case of 1999. The Delhi High Court, however, stayed his conviction in April 2024.

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.

According ECI notification, the last date for filing nominations is March 5, while scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 6. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until March 9.

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. PTI AAM BDC NN AAM NN