Jharsuguda Bypoll: Tarun Pandey to be Congress Candidate

Jharsuguda: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge approves the candidature of Tarun Pandey as Congress candidate for the ensuing bye-election to the Legislative Assembly of Odisha from Jharsuguda Constituency.

Tarun Pandey is son of former Jharsuguda MLA Biren Pandey.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) selected Tankadhar Tripathy as its candidate for the upcoming by-poll to the Jharsuguda Assembly Constituency in Odisha. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) also announced Dipali Das, daughter of slain Health Minister Naba Kishore Das as its candidate for the Jharsuguda bypoll.

The by-election for the Jharsuguda assembly seat in Odisha will be held on May 10, declared the Election Commission of India. The counting of votes of this by-poll will be held on May 13 along with the declaration of the result.

Jharsuguda assembly seat became vacant following the broad-daylight murder of former state health minister Naba Kishor Das on January 29. It has around 2 lakh 21,000 voters.  Notification for this byelection will be out on April 13. The last date to file nominations will be April 20. Scrutiny of nominations will be on April 21 and the last for withdrawal will be on April 23.

Notably, Gopal Das, the police ASI of Gandhi Chowk Police Outpost in Brajarajnagar shot at Health & Family Welfare Minister Naba Das while he was alighting from his vehicle to attend a public meeting at Brajarajnagar on January 29 in Jharsuguda district. The BJD leader fell down and was airlifted to Bhubaneswar in critical condition. He was admitted to the Apollo Hospital where he was declared dead.