The much-awaited Pipili Assembly by-election would be held on September 30 and its results would be declared on October 3, the Election Commission of India (ECI) notified on Saturday. The by-poll is necessitated by the death of incumbent MLA Pradeep Maharathy of the BJD. There would be no fresh nomination filing for the by-poll as that process has already been completed. The BJD has fielded late Maharathy’s son Rudrapratap Maharathy while the BJP has nominated Ashrit Pattnayak and the Congress has nominated Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra for the by-poll. As per the ECI, the model code of conduct came into effect immediately. The campaigning would start from September 20. The silence period is 72 hours before the polling.The number of star campaigners would be restricted to 20 for the national and State-recognised parties and 10 for unrecognised registered parties in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Maximum five persons, including the candidate, can participate in door-to-door campaigning. At best 50 persons shall be allowed (subject to availability of space and compliance to Covid-19 guidelines) for street-corner meetings. All polling personnel, election officials and private persons engaged in election duty shall be double-vaccinated before taking their duties.