Congress party announced its candidates for the assembly by-polls in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha on Wednesday. Madhya Pradesh will go to polls for Jhabua seat and Odisha will go to a by-election for Bijepur seat.
From Jhabua constituency, Kantilal Bhuria (five-time MP) is the candidate from Congress. While the party has selected Dilip Kumar Panda to contest from Bijepur constituency. By-poll in Jhabua is necessitated after BJP MLA GS Damor had quit the Madhya Pradesh Assembly after winning from Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabha seat. The seat of Bijepur fell vacant as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had left the seat. He had contested from two seats in the state- Bijepur and Hinjli.
AICC released a press statement confirming the decision. The statement read:
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal of the candidature of the candidates to contest the bye-elections to the legislative assemblies of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.”
According to the sources, the Bhartiya Janta Party will also announce the name of the candidates for the by-poll very soon.
The dates of the by-poll were announced by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on previous Saturday. By-polls for 64 seats across 18 states is to be held on October 21 alongside the assembly elections of Maharashtra and Haryana. The counting of votes will take place on October 24. The last date for filing nominations is September 3. Withdrawal of applications will be up to October 3.
A day earlier, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik was reported seeking financial assistance from party leaders and supporters to meet the expenditure of upcoming by-poll.
For the Bijepur constituency by-poll, Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal has also constituted a special four-member Election coordination committee.
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