New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) The Election Commission (EC) on Monday rescheduled a bypoll to fill a vacancy in the Uttar Pradesh legislative council as the last date to withdraw candidature was January 22, which the state government has declared a public holiday to mark the Ram temple consecration ceremony at Ayodhya.

In a statement, the poll panel said January 22 was the last day to withdraw candidature for the January 29 bypoll. But in view of the public holiday, the last date to withdraw nominations has now been fixed at January 23 and the bypoll itself will take place on January 30, instead of January 29.

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On January 4, the EC had announced two legislative council bypolls for Telangana and one for Uttar Pradesh.

It made it clear that the bypolls scheduled for Telangana will go ahead in accordance with the schedule announced earlier.

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According to the established practice, polls and counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha and legislative councils take place on the same day.

The bypoll for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council was necessitated after former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma resigned from the state's Upper House after being elected to the Rajya Sabha.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)