Bhubaneswar: Elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will be held on February 27, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said in an notification on Monday.
The terms of Ashwini Vaishnaw (BJP), Prashant Nanda (BJD) and Amar Pattnaik (BJD) will end in April.
According to ECI, the term of office 56 members of the Council of States elected from 15 states, including three from Odisha, is due to expire on their retirement in April 2024. An official notification in this regard will be published on February 8.
It further said that the last date for filing of nomination is February 15 and the last date for withdrawal is February 20. The elections will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on February 27 and the counting of votes will be conducted the same day at 5 pm.
Key dates of the elections:
Notably, the tenure of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, is also coming to an end this April. The BJP is likely to field both Dharmendra and Vaishnaw from Lok Sabha seats in Odisha in the upcoming general elections.
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It is pertinent to mention here that the BJD had ensured the victory of the former bureaucrat, Vaishnav, who was nominated by BJP as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypolls in 2019, by supporting him.