Pipili bypoll on April 17, lobbying begins for tickets

By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: The bypoll to the Pipili Assembly constituency might be held on April 17 together with two Lok Sabha and 14 Assembly seats in different states, the Election Commission of India (ECI) introduced on Tuesday.According to the schedule, the gazette notification for the bypoll might be revealed on March 23. Filing of nomination papers might be performed from March 23 to March 30. The final date of withdrawal of nomination papers might be April 3. Counting of votes and announcement of outcomes might be on May 2.

Hectic lobbying has already began within the ruling BJD for ticket for the by-poll although it’s assumed {that a} member from the household of former minister Pradeep Maharathy is more likely to be nominated. Pratibha Maharathy, spouse of Maharathy and his son, Rudra Pratap Maharathy are robust contenders for the ticket. Several senior leaders of the social gathering together with Minister of State for School and Mass Education Sameer Ranjan Dash have urged the social gathering management to pick a Maharathy member of the family because the BJD candidate.

However, the BJP and Congress have reportedly finalised their candidates and await the approval of the central management for announcement of the names. BJP’s Ashrit Patnaik, who contested in opposition to Maharathy within the final Assembly elections and misplaced the polls by a margin of about 9,000 votes, is more likely to be nominated by the BJP.

Three aspirants, social gathering spokesperson Nishikant Mishra, former block chairman of Pipili Purna Chandra Swain and president of the Puri District Congress Committee Ajit Mangaraj are within the race for Congress ticket. The by-election to Pipili constituency was necessitated after the loss of life of the sitting BJD MLA and former minister Pradeep Maharathy on October 4 final 12 months.