Congress has suspended three of its MLAs in Odisha after allegations that they cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election in favour of a BJP-backed independent candidate. The party leadership issued suspension orders against Ramesh Jena, Sofia Firdous and Dasarathi Gamang.
Rajya Sabha elections were held for 37 vacant seats across 10 states, with 26 seats—including six in Tamil Nadu—being decided unopposed. Polling took place for the remaining 11 seats in Odisha (four), Bihar (five) and Haryana (two).
In Odisha, five candidates contested four seats, making the fourth seat a closely watched contest between BJP-backed independent Dilip Ray and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Datteswar Hota. While Congress’ 14 MLAs had indicated support for Hota, Dilip Ray eventually won, with reports claiming eight BJD MLAs and three Congress MLAs voted in his favour.
The results in Odisha saw BJP candidates Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar win two seats, BJD’s Chandrabhanu Mishra win one, and Dilip Ray take the remaining seat. Following the cross-voting allegations, Congress also removed Cuttack city Congress leader Kripala Behera for acting against the party.
