BHUBANESWAR: Elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will be held on February 27. The three vacancies will arise as the terms of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw from BJP, Prashant Nanda and Amar Patnaik (both from BJD) will end in April.
Announcing the poll date, the Election Commission of India said an official notification will be issued on February 8. The last date for filing of nominations is February 15 and the last date for withdrawal February 20. While polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on February 27, counting of votes done the same day at 5 pm.
BJD with 113 MLAs in a House of 147, has the numbers to win all the three seats. On the other hand, BJP with 22 members does not have the numbers to win a seat on its own. The Congress has nine MLAs while the CPM has one member in the Assembly.
The BJD had ensured victory of the former bureaucrat, Vaishnaw, who was nominated by BJP as its candidate for Rajya Sabha bypolls in 2019.