Bhubaneswar : The campaign for the byelection to Pipili Assembly Constituency in Odisha ended here on Monday evening.
The election will be held on September 30 next,and the counting of votes will be done on October 3 next.
Though ten candidates including three Independents are in the fray but the battle will be fought mainly among three main political parties-BJD, BJP and the Congress.
While Mr Rudra Pratap Maharathi, the son of the former Minister Pradip Maharathi is contesting the by-election on a BJD ticket, the BJP has fielded Mr Ashrit Patnaik and Mr Biswakeshan Harichandan Mohapatra is fighting on a congress ticket.
The other parties contesting the by-elections are —CPIML, RPI, Akhil Bharathiya Hindu Mahasabha and Kalinga Sena.
The by-election was necessitated following the death of BJD sitting MLA Pradip Maharathy on October 4, 2020.
A host of Senior leaders of the BJD like Mr D P Mishra,
Sanjay Das Burma, Pranab Prakash Das, Sameer Ranjan Dash, Umakanta Samanta Ray, Pratap Kumar Deb among others have Organised street corner meetings and campaigned for Mr Maharathy.
While Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra , Aparajita Sarangi,former Union Minister Pratap Sarangi , BJP Party in charge of Odisha D Purandswari, BJP state President Samir Mohanty for their candidate, OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik , former PCC Presidents—Sarat Kumar Patnaik, Prasad Harichandan,OPCC Working Presidents—Pradip Majhi ,Chirnjaib Biswal and congress leader Satya Naik campaigned for the Congress candidates.
The campaign revolved mainly around the development issues.
The by-election was postponed four times for different reasons.
The ECI had announced to hold the by-election on April 17 last but rescheduled it to May 13 after the Congress nominee Ajit Mangaraj died three days before the election on April 14.
The Election Commission again changed the date for the by-poll to May 16 as Idul fitter was celebrated on May 13.
The by-election was again postponed due to surge in Covid positive cases and the lockdown imposed by the state government to prevent the spread of the covid pandemic.
According to the Odisha Chief Electoral Officer since the constituency had availed the campaign period from April 29 to May 3 last, the ECI has decided to allow campaigning from September 20.
In view of the covid pandemic no road show, no motor bike, cycle rally was allowed.
