Bhubaneswar: Finally the election programme for the by-election in Bijepur assembly constituency came out to-day.Voting will take place on February 24, with February 28 being fixed for counting and result declaration.
As per the release of the Election Commission of India the Gazate notification for the by-election will be out on January 30, filing of nomination will open on that day to be closed on February 6. Subsequently Verification, withdrawal of application dates has been fixed for 7th and 9th February respectively before the finalised list of candidates in the fray will be announced.
The By-poll in Bijepur assembly constituency was needed following the death of the incumbent MLA Subal Sahu on August 22. Since then the seat has been declared vacant.
Before the election date came out finally on January 23, it had gathered a lot of political anxiety that led to verbal exchanges among the major political outfits in Odisha. The ruling BJD brought allegation of undue influence of the central government on the Election Commission to get the election date on hold for the interest of BJP.
After the Bijepur constituency opened for bidding with the demise of its representative in the assembly, political hustle and bustle in the state capital has increased something rare happened in the last twenty years with the influence of a by-election.
Biju Janata Dal brought Subal Sahu’s widow Ritarani Sahu into its fold that led its senior leader Ashok Panigrahi escape to BJP. And to complete the cycle BJP’s former district president Narayan Sahu defected to BJD.
Bijepur Assembly constituency, formed in 1961 has been with Congress since 2004, by virtue of Subal Sahu’s three successive wins.
In the 2014 general election Subal Sahu had retained the seat after a close fight with BJD’s the then finance Minister and local power-man Prasanna Acharya by a thin margin of 558 votes.
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