Rajya Sabha Polls: ECI Appoints Returning Officer, Observer For Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday appointed the Returning Officer and Observer for the Rajya Sabha polls to four seats in Odisha, slated for March 26.

According to an ECI notification, 2005-batch Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer and Secretary of the State Assembly Dasarathi Satpathy has been appointed as the Returning Officer and 1995-batch IAS officer and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar Lohani as the observer for the ensuing polls.

While one seat was vacated by BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty following his election to the Lok Sabha last year, the terms of Narendra Kumar Swain, Sarojini Hembram of the BJD and Ranjib Biswal of the Congress are due to end on April 2 this year.

According to the schedule, the notification would be issued on March 6, the last date of filing of nominations would be March 13 and polling would be on March 26, from 9 am to 4 pm. The votes would be counted at 5 pm on the same day.