Bhubaneswar, April 6: Three out of four members of the Rajya Sabha from Odisha took oath as the member of the Upper House on Monday in the presence of its chairman CP Radhakrishnan. The new members include BJP State unit president Manmohan Samal, Santrupt Misra of BJD and Dilip Ray, who won the recently concluded biennial election as an Independent candidate.

The fourth member, Sujeet Kumar could not make it on Monday as he is reportedly busy in election activities in poll bound States.

All the three members took the oath at a specially convened session of the House.

Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan welcomed the new members after the oath-taking ceremony.

All the three new members took oath in Odia language.

In Odisha, the BJP won three of the four seats, including the Independent candidate Dilip Ray, whom it backed.

The other winners were BJP state unit chief Manmohan Samal, sitting MP Sujeet Kumar, and BJD’s Santrupt Misra.

The loser was Dr Datteswar Hota, the BJD-backed common candidate supported by the Congress and CPI(M).

BJP’s third win came amid cross-voting, with at least 11 BJD and Congress MLAs reportedly backing Dilip Ray triggering a political slugfest with both BJD and Congress accusing the ruling BJP of indulging in “horse trading”.

How the numbers worked out in the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha:

BJP: 79

Independents: 3

Total: 82

BJD: 50 (2 under suspension)

Congress: 14

CPM: 1

Total MLAs in Odisha Assembly: 147

BJP 1st preference votes: Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar received 35 each.

BJD 1st preference votes: Santrupt Misra got 31 votes, Datesswar Hota got 11 BJD, 11 Congress and 1 CPM vote, tally 23

Dilip Ray 1st preference votes: 12 surplus votes of BJP; 8 BJD (including 2 suspended members) and 3 Congress MLAs, tally 23

Ray and Hota tied at 23 after first preference votes; BJP's second preference votes simply won the game for the former Union Minister Dilip Ray