Bhubaneswar: The Delhi High Court will hear the petition over the delay in Bijepur by-poll today.
According to sources, the
petition (WP(C)599/2018), filed against the Election Commission of India over its alleged delay
in announcing the dates for the by-poll to the assembly constituency, is listed for hearing at Court no 16.
Kanak Foundation, a civil organisation, filed the petition before the Delhi High Court Saturday, seeking a direction to the ECI for conducting the by-election at the earliest.
The Bijepur seat fell vacant after the demise of former MLA Subala Sahu August 22 last year.
Reacting to the latest development, BJD MP and spokesman Pratap Keshari Deb said the party welcomed the move of the organisation that filed the petition.
He said that there has been a dilly-dallying approach in
announcing the dates for the
by-election.
“The voter list for the assembly segment has already been released. So there shouldn’t be any further delay in announcing the date,” he pointed out.
Notably, the VVPATs and EVMs have already been procured for the by-poll by the Office of Chief Electoral Officer in Orissa.
As per the new list, the total number of voters in the constituency is 2,21,144, which is 1,949 more than the previous list.
PNN