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Puri: As many as 10 candidates remain in the fray for the forthcoming bypoll for the Pipili assembly constituency to be held on March 17, 2021 as the last date for withdrawal of nomination ended on Saturday evening.
According to the State Election Commission, out of the 12 nominations received for the election, two candidates had withdrawn.
BJD’s Rudra Pratap Maharathy and Ashrit Pattanayak of BJP have filed their nominations for the bypoll. On the other hand, Congress has fielded Ajit Mangaraj as their candidate for the seat.
People above the age of 80 and physically challenged voters are allowed postal votes and a total of 1077 postal ballots will be made available for them. As many as 102 vehicles will be used to carry 3009 physically challenged voters to various booths to help them exercise their franchise. A total of 348 polling booths have been set up for the election and 102 among those have been identified as critical, Election Commission sources said.
Meanwhile, all candidates have intensified their campaign for the ensuing election. In an instance of pre-poll violence a day before (Friday), a group of BJP workers were allegedly thrashed by rival BJD workers during campaigning at Raigiripur village.
The incident occurred when the saffron party workers were campaigning for their candidate Ashrit Pattnayak. At Raigiripur village, BJD party workers allegedly made an ambush and smashed the bikes of the BJP party workers.
It is worthwhile to mention that the Assembly constituency of Pipili has been lying vacant since the demise of MLA Pradeep Maharathy last year.
