Bhubaneswar: The By-election for the Brajarajnagar MLA seat in Jharsuguda district in Odisha will be held on May 31, announced the Election Commissioner of India (ECI) on Monday. This By-poll is being held due to the death of MLA Kishore Mohanty.
As per reports, the gazette notification for Brajrajnagar by-poll will be published on May 4 while the candidates will be allowed to file nominations till May 11. The scrutiny of the nominations will be held on May 12.
The last date to withdraw nomination has been set as May 17. The counting of votes will be done on June 3.
The ECI said that the published electoral roll for these bye polls with effect from January 1, 2022 will be used and the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and VVPATs will be used in all polling stations and the district administrations have been provided with EVMS VVPAT machine.
The Commission also said that Election Photo-Identity Card (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. However, the Aadhaar card, MNREGA job card, passbook with photograph issued by the bank or post office, Health Insurance Smart Cards issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, driving license, PAN card, and other identity documents issued by the government may be used for identification purposes.
All election related activities will be strictly complied as per the Covid-19 guidelines issued by competent authorities. Social distancing and use of mask, sanitisers, thermal scanning, face shield, hand gloves, as per Covid-19 protocol, have to be complied with.
After sad demise of former Brajrajnagar MLA Kishore Mohanty, this MLA seat was lying vacant. The former Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly and former MLA Mohanty died due to a heart attack in December 2021 at the age of 63.
Mohanty first became the MLA for Jharsuguda Assembly constituency in 1990 from the Janata Dal. Later, he won from the same constituency twice in 2000 and 2009 with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket.
Ms Kalinga