Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday finalsed the list of its three candidates for the Rajya Sabha seats for which elections are scheduled to be held on June 17. While the party had earlier re-nominated its senior leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, it today announced the names of Sashibhusan Behera, a former MLA and Baishnab Charan Parida, party general secretary, as second and third candidates for the three RS seats for which elections will be held.
It may be noted BJD, with 103 seats in the assembly, is sure of sending two candidates to Rajya Sabha. It is falling short of 8 MLAs to elect the third candidate. Meanwhile, with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) announcing its support for the BJD candidates, the shortfall has been reduced to only 4 MLAs.