BHUBANESWAR:  Senior BJD leader and former minister Pratap Keshari Deb has resigned from Rajya Sabha.

He retained Aul Assembly seat from where he was elected with a huge margin in the recently concluded elections. Deb had defeated his nearest Congress rival Devendra Sharma by a margin of 55,601 votes.

With Deb resigning from Rajya Sabha, there are now four vacancies in the Upper House from Odisha. Earlier, three BJD Rajya Sabha members Anubhav Mohanty, Achyutananda Samanta and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik had resigned from the Upper House. 

While Anubhav had defeated BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, Samanta had won from Kandhamal Parliamentary seat against Kharavela Swain of the BJP. Patnaik had won from Khandapara Assembly seat by a record margin of over 80,000 votes.

Six Rajya Sabha members, three each in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were fielded by the ruling BJD this time. While four members who won elections have resigned from Rajya Sabha, Prasanna Acharya and Sarojini Hembrum were defeated. While Acharya contested from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat, Hembrum was fielded from Baripada Assembly segment.