Bhubaneswar, June 28 (TIWN) Two Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates and one Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Odisha were elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed on Friday.

 BJD leaders Amar Patnaik and Sasmit Patra and BJP candidate Ashwini Vaishnaw were elected unopposed in the Rajya Sabha by-polls.  The ruling BJD had supported Vaishnaw, a former IAS officer.  Since there were no other contenders, the Returning Officer after scrutiny of nomination papers announced the three to be elected. 

The by-poll for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats was scheduled to be held on July 5.  The seats had fallen vacant after the BJD''s Achyutananda Samanta, Pratap Keshari Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik were elected to the Lok Sabha and the Odisha Assembly in the recently-concluded elections.  While Samanta was elected from Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, Deb and Patnaik won from Aul and Khandapada Assembly segments, respectively.  The tenure of seats vacated by Samanta and Patnaik will end on April 3, 2024, whereas the tenure of the Upper House seat vacated by Deb will end on July 1, 2022.