Bhubaneswar, Apr 18 (PTI) The polling for the by- election to the Pipli assembly segment, which was countermanded following the death of Congress nominee Ajit Mangaraj, will be held on May 13, a senior official of the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) Office said.

Though the notification in this regard is yet to be published, only the Congress party will be allowed to replace its candidate, the official said on Saturday.

Mangaraj had succumbed to COVID-19 on April 14, just three days before the earlier schedule of holding polling on April 17.

The last date for filing nomination is April 26 while April 27 is the date of scrutiny of nominations. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is April 29.

The election process in the Pipili assembly segment will be completed by May 18, he said.

Rudrapratap Maharathy of BJD and Ashrit Pattnayak of BJP have filed their nominations earlier. As many as 10 candidates were in the fray for the Pipili Assembly constituency.

On October 4 last year, the sitting BJD Pipili MLA Pradeep Maharathy died which necessitated the by-poll to the Assembly seat.

(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)