By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 11, 2020: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates for elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha filed their nominations at the State Assembly on Wednesday amid presence of Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Pattnaik.

Subhash Singh, Munna Khan, Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mahanta filed their nominations as BJD’s candidates for the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state’s quota that is due to fall vacant on April 2. Four of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will fall vacant after the completion of the tenure of three BJD lawmakers, namely Anubhav Mohanty, Narendra Kumar Swain and Sarojini Hembram and Congress member, Ranjib Biswal.

Oxford and Harvard alumnus Sujeet Kumar left his lucrative job in Switzerland and moved to Odisha and he was attached to BJD IT cell as a strategist since 2012. “It has been quite a journey; I have been working for the party since 2012 and was part of the 2014 and 2019 election campaigns. I will be raising the voice of people of Odisha in the Parliament, especially my constituency, undivided Kalahandi. Education will be my priority; I will ensure every panchayat gets world-class education. Besides, the tourism potential of Kalahandi also needs to be explored,” said Sujeet Kumar.

Mujibulla Khan, popularly known as Munna Khan is a second-generation politician. He was with Janata Dal earlier and joined BJD after its formation. Munna Khan started his career as an Odia Cine star and moved to politics at the age of 23. He was also BJD’s minority cell president for a brief period.

Mamta Mahanta hails from the Kurmi community residing in the tribal belt of Mayurbhanj district. Her earlier stint was that of a Zila Parishad member.