Pipili: Tuesday being the last date for filing nominations for the Pipili by-election, BJD’s nominee Rudrapratap Maharathy, the son of late Pradeep Maharathy and Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj are going to file their nominations. BJP’s Ashrit Pattanayak has already filed his nomination.
As per the notification issued by the State Election Commission, scrutiny of the papers will be held Wednesday and April 3 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
From Wednesday onwards, the three political parties – BJD, BJP and Congress will start campaigning. All the three political parties, sources said will go all out to woo voters.
Since the announcement of Rudrapratap’s name as BJD’s candidate for the by-polls, the Maharathy family has already started chalking out strategies to ensure his victory.
According to political analysts, since Pipili has been a citadel of veteran leader late Pradeep Maharathy, the BJD is confident of winning the election. However, BJP’s Ashrit can give Rudrapratap a run for his money.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, Pradeep had received 88,518 votes while BJP’s Ashrit got 72,731 votes. The Congress candidate polled 9,830 votes.
However, with the veteran Pradeep not around, many feel that it will be a tough contest between Rudrapratap and Ashrit.
The by-election to the Pipili Assembly seat will be held April 17 and the results will be announced May 2.
PNN