Bhubaneswar: In their transition from Rajya Sabha MPs to Lok Sabha MPs, they lost their MPship for one day. Means, they were neither the MP of Rajaya Sabha nor Lok Sabha for one day.

Film actor turned politician Anubhav Mohanty and education entrepreneur turned politician Achyut Samant were not the MPs for one day.

Section 69 read with Section 67A of the Representative of People’s Act, 1951 says that if a Rajya Sabha member contests and wins the Lok Sabha election, his seat in Upper House becomes automatically vacant on the date he is declared elected to a Lok Sabah. The same applies to a Lok Sabha member who constest and election to Rajya Sabha.

Anubav Mohanty and Achyut Samant, the two Rajya Sabha MPs of BJD contesting from Kendrapada and Kandhmal respectively, ceased automatically to be members of Rajya Sabha on May 23, the date on which they were declared elected. Legally or technically speaking, however, they became members of the Lok Sabha only on May 25– when the Election Commission of India issued the ‘Due Constitution’ notification for the new Lok Sabha under Section 73 of the RPA, 1951.

And, so the two MPs were, for all practical purposes, not members of any House for a day– May 24.