Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) Saturday announced the by-election date for Bijepur Assembly constituency in the state.
According to a gazette notification issued by the ECI, the bypoll will be held October 21. The date for nomination filing will be published September 23 while the last date for filing nomination is September 30.
The bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who had contested and won from the seat vacated it. Naveen had contested and won from Hinjili and Bijepur. While he retained Hinjili from where he has been winning from 2000 in a row, he resigned from Bijepur – a seat he contested for the first time to give a boost to BJD’s campaign in Western Odisha and to counter BJP there effectively.
The October 21 bypoll will be the third electoral battle for the Assembly constituency in less than two years since 2018.
With the ECI announcement, the political parties are geared up for the post-Dussehra bypoll even as speculation has intensified about the possible candidates to be fielded by the three main parties: BJD, BJP and Congress.
After the demise of former MLA Subal Sahu, the ruling Biju Janata Dal retained its hegemony by winning the Bijepur bypoll with a respectable number of votes. BJD candidate Rita Sahu, the widow of Subal Sahu, garnered 1,02,871 votes in 2018 after 20 rounds of counting, by defeating her nearest rival Ashok Panigrahi of BJP by 41,933 votes.
Meanwhile, political parties, voters and aspirants are curious about the next action unfolding in the constituency. While the electorates are keeping mum regarding their mind, the polls have taken the centre stage in chats.