The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday said it will hold bye-election in Assam on March 1, 2021 to fill up a casual vacancy in the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) after the resignation of Biswajit Daimary.
Biswajit Daimary, who was a Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) leader, resigned as MP after he decided to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) election.
The Rajya Sabha seat from Assam has remained vacant since November 21, 2020.
The term of the MP will end on April 9, 2026.
The Election Commission in a statement said the notification for the bye-election will be notified on February 11, 2021.
February 18, 2021 has been fixed as the last date for filing nominations.
The nomination papers will be scrutinised on February 19, 2021.
February 22, 2021 is the last date for withdrawal of candidatures.
The polling will be held from 9 am in the morning and end at 4 pm.
The counting of votes will be conducted on March 3, 2021, the EC said.
The EC has issued broad guidelines to be followed during the entire election process for all persons.
According to the guidelines, every person shall wear face mask during every election-related activity.
At the entry of hall/ room/ premises used for election purposes – thermal scanning of all persons shall be carried out; sanitizer shall be made available at all locations.
Social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant COVID-19 guidelines of the state government and the Ministry of Home Affairs (HMA), it said.
The EC said the chief secretary of Assam is being directed to depute a senior officer from the state to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election.
Further, the Commission has also appointed the chief electoral officer of Assam as the observer for this bye-election.