Assembly Secretary Amiya Kumar Sarangi, who is the Returning Officer, on Monday issued a notification for nominations for the by-election to the two vacant Rajya Sabha seats for Odisha scheduled to be held on July 3.
The Election Commission had earlier announced the schedule for the by-election for the two Upper House seats in the State. The by-election was necessitated following resignation of BJD Rajya Sabha member Sashi Bhushan Behera and Rabi Narayan Mohapatra in the wake of their election as member to the State Assembly in the recently concluded general elections.
Behera was elected to the Rajya Sabha on July 17, 2010 and resigned on May 30 last. Mohapatra was elected on March 22, 2012 and had resigned from his membership on May 30 as well.
As per the notification, filing of nomination would begin from June 16 and continue till June 23, while the scrutiny of the nomination papers would be done on June 24 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 26. The election, if required, would be held on July 3 from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting of votes would begin at 5 pm after which the results will be announced, sources said.