Bhubaneswar, Mar 27:  BJD today declared its candidate for Pipili bypoll and nominated Rudra Maharathy, son of Pradeep Kumar Maharathy as its candidate.

The last day for filling nomination paper is March 30. Scrutiny will be held on March 31. The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is April 3. Polling will be held on April 17 and votes will be counted on May 2.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting BJD MLA Pradeep Kumar Maharathy on October 4 in 2020.

BJP on Thursday has nominated Ashrit Pattnayak as its candidate for the bypoll while Congress is yet to declare its candidate for the poll.