Bhubaneswar, Feb. 28 -- In a move that challenges electoral arithmetic as much as it tests political goodwill, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday announced former corporate businessman Santrupt Mishra and urologist Datteswar Hota for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Odisha despite having the numbers to send just one MP.

Four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will become vacant after the term of BJP MPs Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta, and BJD MPs Niranjan Bishi and Muzibulla Khan alias Munna Khan ends.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik named entrepreneur-turned-politician Santrupt Misra for the third seat and urologist Dr Datteswar Hota for the fourth, while making a pointed appeal to all political parties to back Hota as a "common can...