New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a notification on Tuesday for the poll schedule for the by-elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha.
According to the notification, the last date for filing of nomination is June 25. If necessary, the bypolls will be held on July 5.
At present, four Rajya Sabha seats of Odisha have fallen vacant. While Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Achyut Samant and Anubhav Mohanty had tendered their resignations earlier, another member, Pratap Deb, recently resigned from the Upper House.
As the tenure of Anubhav Mohanty will expire after a year, the bypolls will be held for the three seats vacated by Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Achyut Samant and Pratap Deb.
While the tenures of Soumya Ranjan and Achyut Samant were set to expire in April 2024, Pratap Deb’s term was to expire in July 2022.
Talking to the media in Bhubaneswar, Returning Officer Bishnu Prasad Mishra said the nomination papers for the three Rajya Sabha seats will be filed separately at Room No-14 in the State Assembly at 11.30 am. “The number of candidates contesting the three seats will be known during the verification of the nomination papers on June 26,” he added.
BJD sources said party supremo Naveen Patnaik will announce the name of the three candidates before June 25. Since the BJD has an absolute majority in the State Assembly, it will occupy three seats without any contest.
