Bhubaneswar: The official notification for elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha was issued on Thursday.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prashant Nanda and Amar Patnaik will retire as members of the upper house from Odisha in April.
According to the notification, the polling will be held on February 27 between 9 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will be conducted at 5 pm the same day. The last date for filing of nomination is February 15 and the last date for withdrawal is February 20.
The Rajya Sabha polls, ahead of the twin elections in the state, have assumed significance amid allegations of tacit understanding between the BJD and BJP. The regional party had ensured the victory of the former bureaucrat, Vaishnav, who was nominated by BJP as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypolls in 2019, by supporting him as the saffron party with only 23 MLAs did not have the numbers.
A senior BJD leader, however, asserted that there will be no understanding with the BJP over Rajya Sabha seats this time. The party with 114 members has adequate numbers to win all the three seats.
Notably, the tenure of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, is also coming to an end this April. The BJP is likely to field both Dharmendra and Vaishnaw from Lok Sabha seats in Odisha to boost its chances in the upcoming general elections.
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