Pipili Bypoll: Congress Names Ajit Mangaraj As Party Candidate

Bhubaneswar: The Congress has nominated Ajit Mangaraj to contest the upcoming bypoll to the Pipili Assembly constituency in Odisha. The All India Congress Committee has given the final nod for the candidature of Mangaraj from the Assembly segment which will go to polls on April 17.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee had shortlisted Mangaraj's name for the by-elections along with two other candidates, Purna Swain and Nishikant Mishra.

Mangaraj exuded confidence that he would leave no stone unturned to work for the development of Pipili & Delang & weed out corruption from the region. 'I hope workers & other candidates from the party will fully cooperate with me,' he said in an exclusive interview to OTV.

Presently spearheading the party's district unit from Puri, he had unsuccessfully fought the 2019 general elections from Pipili. As per the Election Commission of India data, Mangaraj had bagged only 9,830 votes while BJD stalwart late Pradeep Maharathy ran away with the seat after securing 88,518 votes.

It may be noted that the BJP had already named Asrit Patnaik as their party candidate for the scheduled by-elections while the ruling BJD has roped in legislator late Pradeep Maharathy's son Rudra Pratap for the high-voltage bypoll war.

The bypoll to the 110 – Pipili Assembly seat has been lying vacant since October 4 2020 following the demise of 7-time MLA Pradeep Maharathy.

As per the bypoll gazette notification, the nomination papers for the by-elections will be scrutinized on March 31 and applicants will have till April 3 to withdraw their candidatures. The polling of votes will be conducted on April 17 while counting and declaration of results will be made on May 2.