The Congress in Odisha suspended three MLAs on Tuesday for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held a day earlier, The Hindu reported.

Four Rajya Sabha seats from the state were due to fall vacant on April 2 and elections were held on Monday to fill them. Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar won two seats, while Dilip Ray, an independent nominee backed by the Hindutva party, secured one.

Santrupta Mishra, a candidate from the Opposition Biju Janata Dal, won the fourth seat.

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Amid polling, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhakta Charan Das had told reporters that three of its MLAs – Ramesh Jena, Dasarathi Gomango and Sofia Firdous – had voted in favour of the ruling BJP in the state.

“The party will certainly take action against the erring members who jumped party discipline,” Das had said.

Jena, Gomango and Firdous were suspended from the party on Tuesday, according to The Hindu.

Earlier, BJD deputy chief whip Pratap Keshari Deb had also said that eight party MLAs cross-voted in favour of Ray.

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BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had accused the BJP of “horse-trading”.

“They [BJP] have collected a number of persons who voted for them,” the former chief minister said. “Most of them have criminal past, I am ashamed to say. You can check yourself as to how many of their parents went to jail and how they were with them.”

However, Ray had said that everybody knew his relationship with leaders across party lines.

“I pay my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi and state BJP president Manmohan Samal for their total support,” he had said. “I have got success because of support of many in BJD and Congress.”

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Elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats in 10 states had been scheduled for Monday. Of these, 26 candidates secured their wins unopposed. Voting had taken place for the remaining 11 seats – five in Bihar, four in Odisha and two from Haryana.

Apart from the three in Odisha, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar and one in Haryana. The Congress secured one seat in Haryana.