Bypoll to RS seat, vacated by Samantaray, on June 18

Bhubaneswar: The by-election to the Rajya Sabha seat, vacated by Debashish Samantaray, will be held on June 18.According to a press note issued by Election Commission of India on Wednesday, the notification for the bypoll will be issued on June 1, with June 8 set as the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will follow, and June 11 has been fixed as the deadline for withdrawal of candidature.The winner will serve the remainder of Samantaray’s term, which runs till April 2030 — roughly four years. Samantaray, who was elected to the Upper House in April 2024, resigned on May 25.Given its numerical strength in the assembly, the BJP is poised to win the seat. Party sources indicated that Samantaray may be fielded again, following a strategy similar to earlier cases involving Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta, who resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and BJD before joining the BJP and returning to the Upper House.Belonging to a political family, Samantaray has been elected MLA three times — once from Tirtol in 2000 and twice from Barabati-Cuttack in 2009 and 2019. His father Nityananda Samantaray, a Congress veteran, was elected MLA from Tirtol in 1985.