BHUBANESWAR: With the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) nominee Rita Sahu announcing that she will file her nomination papers on February 5 for the Bijepur by-election scheduled on February 24, opposition political parties, Congress and BJP, have also stepped up efforts for selection of candidates.
Sahu made the announcement after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other senior party leaders at the Navin Nivas here on Sunday. The Chief Minister also presided over a meeting to discuss strategy for the by-election which was necessitated after the death of Congress MLA Subal Sahu on August 22, 2017.
Several leaders including former minister and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra, ministers Prasanta Nanda and Pranab Prakash Das and observer for Bargarh district and Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick attended the meeting.
Acharya told mediapersons that the BJD is fully prepared for the election and the party will win as people from the area have shown immense support for the BJD candidate.While the Congress has constituted a six-member committee headed by former chief minister Hemananda Biswal to select party candidate, the BJP held a high level meeting attended by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to discuss the by-poll. Senior leader Pratap Sarangi announced after the meeting that the party will announce its candidate soon.
Sources said names forwarded by the district committee was discussed at the meeting.
A short list has been prepared and forwarded to the Central committee. The Central committee will take a final decision and announce the name of the candidate within a day or two. However, the name of former legislator Ashok Panigrahi who quit BJD and joined BJP last year is being speculated as the BJP candidate for the by-poll.
As per the notification issued by Election Commission of India, counting and announcement of the results will be done on February 28. A gazette notification for the by-poll will be issued on January 30. As per the schedule, the last date for filing nomination is February 6, while the candidates can withdraw their candidatures by February 9. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on February 7.
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