The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has suspended six of its Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) for voting in favour of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.
The suspended MLAs are Chakramani Kanhar, Naba Kishore Mallick, Souvic Biswal, Subasini Jena, Ramakanta Bhoi, and Devi Ranjan Tripathy.
They voted for Dilip Ray instead of the BJD-Congress joint nominee Datteswar Hota, who secured 23 first-preference votes like Ray, but was elected after counting second-preference votes.
BJD president Naveen Patnaik took this action following recommendations from the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) after examining replies to show-cause notices issued to the legislators.
The party will also challenge alleged procedural lapses before the Election Commission of India (ECI) and seek the disqualification of the suspended MLAs under anti-defection provisions.
