Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is also included in the list of star campaigners of BJP. (file)
Bhubaneswar:
A saffron party functionary said that three union ministers and the national president of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha are among the 20 star campaigners for the September 30 Pipili by-election.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs Bishweshwar Tudu are among the BJP’s star campaigners presented in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
BJP’s Kisan Morcha national president Vijay Pal Singh Tomar will also campaign for party candidate Ashrit Patnaik.
BJP state president Sameer Mohanty, national vice president Baijayant Panda, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, state in-charge D Puramandeshwari, national spokesperson Sambit Patra and other senior leaders of the saffron party will also participate in the election campaign.
Campaigning for Pipili assembly constituency will begin from September 20 following the COVID-19 guidelines and will end 72 hours before polling.
Counting of votes will take place on October 3.
Though 10 candidates are in the fray, the contest is mostly limited between BJD candidate Rudrapratap Maharathi, BJP candidate Ashrit Patnaik and Congress candidate Bishvokshan Harichandan Mohapatra.
The bypoll to the assembly constituency was necessitated due to the death of BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathi in October last year.
The by-election to Pipili assembly constituency has been postponed thrice earlier.
Initially, it was scheduled for April 17, but it was canceled after the death of Congress candidate Ajit Mangraj due to COVID-19, just three days before the date of polling.
The polling date was later fixed as May 13, which was again shifted to May 16 in view of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival. It was again postponed in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, officials said.
The Election Commission of India has allowed a maximum of 20 vehicles for campaigning by a candidate or a political party (except star campaigners) with 50 per cent capacity in each vehicle.
District Election Officers will be authorized to take appropriate measures to prevent crowding during polling and counting while maintaining social distancing and use of masks, sanitisers, thermal scanning and hand gloves will be ensured as per the COVID-19 protocol.
.