Bhubaneswar: The by-election to a Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha lying vacant following the resignation of BJD member Subash Singh, will be held on June 13.
In a notification, Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday said candidates can file their nomination papers for the by-poll in between May 26 and June 2 while the papers will be scrutinized on June 3.
The candidates can withdraw their nominations till June 6. The polling will be held from 9 AM to 4 PM on June 13 while counting will take place at 5 PM on June 13.
The ECI has directed Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra to depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the by-election.
The seat fell vacant following the resignation of BJD MP Subhas Chandra Singh in April. The poll is being held for the rest of the period that is from April 24, 2022 to April 24, 2026.
On May 12, the EC has also announced the schedule of biennial polls for 57 seats from the 15 states and the counting of the votes will take place on June 10.
Among the 57 Rajya Sabha seats, the biennial poll will be held for three seats from Odisha. The poll will be held as the tenure of three Rajya Sabha members from Odisha – N Bhaskar Rao, Prasanna Acharya and Sasmit Patra will end on July 1.
Speculation is rife in the ruling BJD over candidates for the new vacancies as all the four seats were held by the party.
The BJD is set to win all the four RS seats with a strength of 113 in an Assembly of 147. The BJP and Congress with 22 and 9 seats in the Assembly do not have the numbers to win a seat.
Senior leaders from the Governing party including those who have joined the party during the last general election and Panchayat poll are eying to go to the Upper House. Now, all eyes are on Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik, who will take the final call.