ECI issues notification for Nuapada Assembly by-election in Odisha. Voting on Nov 11, counting on Nov 14, with 2.5 lakh voters and 358 polling booths
OdishaPlus Bureau
The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued notifications on Monday regarding the bye-election for the Nuapada Assembly constituency in Odisha.
As per the notification, the nomination filing will commence on October 20, with scrutiny scheduled for October 22, and the withdrawal of nominations to be completed by October 24. Voting is set to take place on November 11, followed by the counting of votes on November 14.
In this constituency, 47 polling booths have been designated in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), where voting will occur from 7 am to 4 pm. In the remaining booths, voters will be able to cast their votes until 5 pm.
The notification further stated that the entire electoral process is expected to conclude by November 16.
Previously, R S Gopalan, the Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha, announced that a total of 358 polling stations, which includes 56 new stations, will be established in the Nuapada constituency for the forthcoming bye-election. A total of 2,53,624 individuals, comprising 1,24,108 men, 1,29,495 women, and 21 individuals from the third gender, are eligible to participate in the voting process.
The seat became vacant due to the passing of BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia, who died on September 8 while receiving treatment in Chennai at the age of 69.
In the 2024 assembly election, Dholakia secured the seat with 61,822 votes, while Congress rebel Ghasiram Majhi, who ran as an Independent, received 50,941 votes, finishing as a close runner-up. The official Congress candidate, Sarat Pattanayak, received only 15,501 votes, while the BJP candidate Abhinandan Panda came in third with just over 440,814 votes.
Ghasiram has since rejoined Congress and has been named the party’s candidate for the bypoll, while BJD’s potential candidate Jay Dholakia has defected to the ruling BJP, marking a significant setback for the party led by Naveen Patnaik.
On Sunday, a meeting of the BJP Core Committee was held at the party headquarters to discuss the strategy for the upcoming bypoll. “This meeting was significant, and we explored various strategies. We are assured that the BJP will secure the seat. Everyone will rally behind the BJP candidate,” stated senior leader Basanta Panda, refraining from indicating whether Jay will be the party’s nominee for Nuapada.
He further mentioned that the parliamentary board will soon determine and announce the candidate. “The BJP boasts numerous capable candidates across all constituencies, and it is our shared duty to fortify the organization by cultivating more dedicated karyakartas in each Assembly segment,” remarked Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari.
Since the year 2000, the seat has been held three times by the late Dholakia as a BJD legislator and once as an Independent, while former state BJP president Basanta Panda achieved two victories.