Bijepur Assembly Bypoll On Feb 24: EC

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission in a notification on Tuesday said the by-election to the Bijepur Assembly constituency would be held on February 24.

The Commission would come up with a gazette notification to this effect on January 30.

As per the notification, the last date of filing nomination is February 6 while verification of nomination papers will be held on February 7. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 9.

The counting of votes will be held on February 28 and the results would be announced on the same day.

The election process would be completed by March 3, the notification added.

With this, the model code of conduct for the ensuing bypoll begins from Tuesday.

The EC notification came a day after it received a notice from the Delhi High Court seeking a reply regarding delay in the announcement of a date for the Bijepur bypoll within a week.

The court was scheduled to hear the matter on February 9.

The directive of the court had come in response to a writ petition filed by a voluntary organisation which had prayed the court to intervene in the matter and ask the EC about the reason for the delay in the announcement of a date for the bypoll in the said Assembly constituency.

The Bijepur seat has fallen vacant after the death of the incumbent legislator Subala Sahu in August last year.