The nominations will be scrutinised on September 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is September 27. (Express photo/Representational)
The Election Commission of Indian has announced October 11 as the date for bypoll for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. The seat had fallen vacant due to the death of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Vinod Khanna of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 27 this year.
With the announcement of the date of election the model code of conduct has come into force in the constituency with immediate effect. As per the schedule announced by the EC, the gazette notification for the election will be done on September 11, and September 22 will be the last date for filing nominations. The nominations will be scrutinised on September 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is September 27. The polling will take place on October 11, while the counting will take place on October 15.
The Election Commission (EC) has decided to use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines and conventional Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the poll. The announcement of the date of election is expected to hasten the announcement of the name of candidates by the three major political parties who intend to contest the election.
While president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Sunil Jakhar, is widely tipped to be the candidate from the Congress, Kavita Khanna, wife of Vinod Khanna, is said to be ahead in the race for a BJP ticket. AAP has also not yet finalised the name of its candidate and a final call is expected to be taken in a few days time.
