Poll Body Reschedules UP Bypoll Due To Public Holiday For Ram Temple Event

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.

On January 4, the EC announced two legislative council by-polls for Telangana and one for Uttar Pradesh.

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

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

The by-poll 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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)