BHUBANESWAR: Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced that by-poll to Bijepur Assembly constituency will be held on October 21 along with 63 other Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats.
Announcing the by-poll schedule for the Bijepur seat, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Kumar said the model code of conduct has come into force in Bargarh district.
By-election to the constituency was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik vacated the seat and retained Hinjili in Ganjam district.
He had won from both seats in 2019 elections. The CEO said notification for the by-election will be issued on September 23.
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The last date for filing nomination papers is September 30 while scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on October 1.
Counting of votes will be held on October 24, he added. Kumar said 2,32,005 voters are eligible to cast their votes in 285 polling booths. There are 1,19,916 male, 1,12,074 women and 15 members of the third gender who are eligible to vote.
All the three major political parties - BJD, BJP and Congress - have already started groundwork for the by-election though candidates are yet to be announced.
Stating that the BJP is fully prepared for the by-poll, president of the state BJP Basant Panda said the party will win the seat. Criticising the BJD for making false promises before the people, Panda said this time the voters will not be carried away by the ruling party’s propaganda. He said the BJP has almost finalised the candidate and a senior leader will contest from the seat.
Bijepur bypoll on October 21:
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said the Congress is fully prepared for the by-poll and the candidate selection process will be over by September 24 or 25.
BJD leader Sanjay Dasburma said the party president will select the candidate for the by-poll. Dasburma is a member of the coordination committee announced by the Chief Minister for the by-poll.
Other members of the committee are Finance minister Niranjan Pujari, Rural Development Minister Sushant Singh and former MP Kalikesh Singhdeo.