Bhubaneswar, May 27 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced the schedule for the by-elections to fill the vacancy in the Rajya Sabha from Odisha following the resignation of Debashish Samantaray.

Samantaray resigned on Monday from the BJD and the Rajya Sabha.

According to the schedule announced by the ECI on Wednesday, the notification for the by-election will be issued on June 1. The last date for filing nominations has been fixed as June 8, while the scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9.

The last date for withdrawal of candidatures has been fixed on June 11. The ECI also announced that polling for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., while the counting of votes will begin at 5 p.m. on June 18.

The Commission further informed that the entire bypoll process will be completed before June 20.

It is worth noting that Samantaray, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2024, submitted his resignation to Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan. He would have otherwise completed his tenure, which was scheduled to end on April 3, 2030.

In a major setback to the opposition BJD, Samantaray, a founder member of the party, on Monday tendered his resignation from the primary membership in a letter addressed to the party’s supremo, Naveen Patnaik, citing continuous sidelining within the party. His resignation from the Rajya Sabha brought down the regional party’s strength in the Upper House to five members.

A day after tendering his resignation from the party, Samantaray on Tuesday joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a programme held at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Notably, the three-time MLA was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from the Tirtol and Barabati-Cuttack constituencies during 2000 – 2004, 2009 – 2014 and 2014 – 2019.

–IANS

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