BHUBANESWAR: The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced bypoll to the Pipili assembly constituency on September 30.
The counting of votes and announcement of the results will be done on October 3. The election process will be completed on October 5.
The by-poll was necessitated due to the demise of the sitting MLA Pradeep Maharathy on October 4 due to Covid-19. Originally the by-poll was scheduled on April 17 but had to be rescheduled to May 16 after Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj died due to Covid-19. However, it was later deferred due to the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
While BJD has fielded Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the BJP candidate is Ashrit Patnaik. Congress has fielded Biswokehan Harichandan Mohapatra.