Official Notification Issued for Rajya Sabha Elections, BJP National President Nitin Navin May Contest from Odisha

26 Feb 2026, 09:24 by Himanshu · KalingaTV

Bhubaneswar: Formal notification has been issued for the Rajya Sabha elections. The elections will be held on March 16. Four seats in Odisha are up for grabs. The last date for filing nominations is March 5. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on March 6, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 9. Voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on March 16, with counting of votes scheduled for the afternoon.

There’s speculation about BJP National President Nitin Navin contesting the Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha. Earlier, there were talks of a national-level leader contesting from Odisha, and now Nitin Navin’s name is doing the rounds. The 45-year-old Nitin Navin took oath as BJP National President on January 20 and is currently representing Bihar’s Bankipur constituency in the Assembly. However, the party hasn’t made any official announcement regarding his candidacy.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi is currently in Delhi and is likely to discuss the Rajya Sabha seat with the central leadership. The BJP’s core committee met last week and has reportedly sent a list of five potential candidates to the center. The party’s parliamentary board will take the final decision on the Rajya Sabha candidate.

State BJP President Manmohan Samal, Sameer Mohanty, Basant Panda, and Golak Mohapatra are said to be on the list of potential candidates.

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Official Notification Issued for Rajya Sabha Elections, BJP National President Nitin Navin May Contest from Odisha

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