EC Announces Date For Pipili Bypoll In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced the date for the bypoll to Pipili constituency in Odisha.

According to the notification, polling will be held on September 30 and the counting of votes and announcement of the results will be done on October 3.

The Commission said that the election process will be completed on October 5.

The by-election was necessitated following the demise of its sitting MLA of BJD Pradeep Maharathy on October 4, 2020. The EC had then announced to hold the bypoll on April 17. However, it was rescheduled to May 16 after Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj passed away due to COVID on April 14.

It had to be deferred further considering the lockdown restrictions imposed by the state government amid a rise in COVID cases.

The ruling BJD had fielded Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the son of Pradeep Maharathy, while BJP nominated Ashrit Pattnaik and Congress announced the name of Biswokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra for the bypoll.