6 BJD MLAs sent notices by party for Rajya Sabha vote hit back, cite SC verdicts

The BJP won two Rajya Sabha seats, and Dilip Ray, an independent candidate backed by the party, won a third, leaving the BJD with just one

Published on: Mar 20, 2026, 22:17:04 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Bhubaneswar

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Six Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislators who were slapped with show-cause notices for supporting independent candidate Dilip Ray in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections have called the notices “illegal, arbitrary, baseless, and unconstitutional” and threatened criminal proceedings

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik casts his vote for the Rajya Sabha elections at the Odisha assembly on March 16 (PTI)

BJD chief whip Pramila Mallick on March 17 issued notices to six MLAs -- Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki) -- after they backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported independent candidate Dilip Ray instead of the BJD-Congress joint candidate, urologist Datteswar Hota.

In the end, the BJP won two seats, and Dilip Ray, an independent candidate backed by the party, won a third, leaving the BJD with just one.

In separate but similar replies to Mallick, the MLAs cited Supreme Court verdicts and Election Commission guidelines to argue that political parties could not issue whips in Rajya Sabha elections, and that their votes were cast freely and lawfully.

Among the court verdicts, they cited Kuldip Nayar vs Union of India (2006), Pashupati Nath Sukul vs Nem Chandra Jain (1984), and Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachillhu (1992), to assert that the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution’s Tenth Schedule did not apply to Rajya Sabha elections.

Disqualification under the Schedule is triggered only by defiance of a party whip in ordinary legislative proceedings and not Rajya Sabha vote, they said.

Their replies also pointed to the Election Commission of India Press Note dated July 6, 2017, that said that electors in Rajya Sabha polls enjoy voting freedom unconstrained by party directions, a position they said the BJD’s own notice directly violates.

The MLAs reasoned that the party’s letter on how to vote in the election amounted to offences under sections 171 and 174 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 that relate to undue influence in elections.

The MLAs insisted that they had not given up party membership or violated any decision communicated at the legislature party meeting held on March 15

Tripathy, who has been among the most vocal, said any direction to legislators on how to vote in a Rajya Sabha election amounts to “an assault on constitutional freedoms.”

The MLAs demanded the immediate withdrawal of the notices and warned that failure to comply would result in “appropriate legal and criminal proceedings.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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