Bhubaneswar: BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday made it clear that he would send only people with a political background to the Rajya Sabha this time.

Elections for the three Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in the state will be held on March 23.

The tenure of three BJD MPs - A.U. Singh Deo, Dillip Tirkey and A.V. Swami - is coming to an end on April 1.

The BJD, which has 117 members in the 147-strong Assembly, is certain to win all the three seats. While Congress and the BJP have 16 and 10 MLAs respectively, a winning candidate would need 37 first-preference votes to secure a seat.

Naveen said after returning from New Delhi: "The BJD will declare its candidates at the appropriate time. It is political people who will go to the Rajya Sabha."

BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said: "The party president will certainly consult other leaders before announcing the names."

Though there are many senior leaders in the party who want to go to the Upper House, they are maintaining silence on the issue because of Naveen's unpredictable nature. Earlier, Naveen had sprung a surprise by asking senior leader Bishnu Das to resign from his Rajya Sabha seat and sent party spokesperson Pratap Deb to the Upper House in his place.

"Naveen is known for surprises. Hence, any guess about names at this stage will be premature," said a BJD leader.