Bhubaneswar: Odisha is headed for a rare Rajya Sabha face-off between two independent candidates — BJP-backed former Union minister Dilip Ray and the BJD-Congress-CPI(M) common nominee, urologist Datteswar Hota — as nominations closed on Thursday for 37 seats nationwide, including four from the state.For the remaining three seats, BJP state chief Manmohan Samal, outgoing BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar and corporate-leader-turned-BJD politician Santrupt Misra are set to be elected unopposed. All five filed their papers on Thursday.Hota, the retired principal of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, appears numerically placed to win if MLAs vote strictly along party lines. After ensuring Misra’s victory with 30 first-preference votes, BJD with 48 MLAs (excluding two suspended) is left with 18 surplus votes. Combined with 14 Congress MLAs and one CPI(M) MLA, Hota is projected to secure around 33 votes — three more than the required number.Ray, however, carries the weight of precedent in his favour. In 2002, he won a Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha as an Independent after being expelled from BJD — a victory made possible through large-scale cross-voting by BJD, BJP and Congress MLAs. This time, with BJP’s backing, Ray begins with 22 votes from BJP MLAs and needs eight more. In the 147-member assembly, BJP, with 79 MLAs and support of three independents, will use 60 votes for the two party nominees and pass on the rest to Ray. He is banking on the support of two suspended BJD MLAs and others who may defy party lines.Exuding confidence, Ray said, “If I was not confident, I would not have entered the fray. I’m sure I will receive the same support I got in 2002.” Though a BJP leader, he entered as an Independent to maximise cross-party support, sources close to him said.Hota, also expressing confidence, said, “The fight is for principles, morality and ideals.”Ray’s political career spans four decades — from Rourkela civic chairperson in 1985 to three terms in the assembly and two consecutive Rajya Sabha stints (1996–2008). He joined the BJP in 2009 and won the Rourkela seat in 2014. The Delhi high court stayed his 2020 conviction in a coal block case in April 2024. Hota is a former vice-chancellor of Odisha University of Health Sciences.For the two seats where it has the numbers, the BJP named Samal and renominated Sujeet Kumar, while the BJD fielded Misra for the seat it is comfortably placed to win.Samal, who earlier served in the Rajya Sabha (2000–04), hails from Bhadrak’s Dhamnagar and holds a postgraduate law degree from Fakir Mohan University. Taking over as state BJP chief in March 2023, he was retained for a three-year term in 2024 after leading the party to its first-ever solo assembly victory, even though he himself lost from Chandabali by just 1,916 votes.A prominent OBC face, Samal earlier served as revenue and food supplies minister in the BJP-BJD coalition (2004–08). His political journey began with his election as Bhadrak College Students’ Union President in 1979, followed by key roles in ABVP.Kumar, who resigned as a BJD MP before returning to the Upper House as a BJP nominee in 2024, is a Supreme Court advocate with degrees from Oxford’s Saïd Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. He brings policy depth and legislative continuity, also helping the party balance regional representation — Samal from the coast and Sujeet from western Odisha.The last Rajya Sabha contest in Odisha was in 2014, when Congress nominee Ranjib Biswal defeated BJD-backed Independent Raghunath Mohapatra.
