Cyclone Gulab: RO tells Pipili bypoll candidates to take safety measures during campaigning

Bhubaneswar, Sep 26: The Returning Officer (RO) of the Pipili Assembly seat in Puri district has suggested to all the candidates in the fray for the September 30 bypoll to take appropriate precautionary measures during their campaigning in view of cyclone Gulab which will make landfall on Sunday night.

The cyclone will make landfall between Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh and Gopalpur in Odisha.

In a letter to all the 10 candidates, Puri Additional District Magistrate-cum RO said: "You are, therefore, requested to take appropriate measures during campaign and conduct meeting in pucca buildings and if at all necessary, the tent house should be made to resist the wind speed."

The RO in the letter said that a cyclonic storm is likely to hit the coastal belt of Odisha with heavy rainfall and squally wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph likely to prevail along and off Odisha coasts and it will gradually increase becoming gale wind speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph along and off Puri district.

The bypoll in Pipili is necessitated after the demise of ruling BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathy in October, 2020.

The polling is now scheduled to take place on September 30 and counting of votes on October 3.

The bypoll was originally scheduled to be held on April 17 but had to be rescheduled to May 16 after Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj died due to COVID-19. However, it was later deferred due to the second wave of the Covid pandemic.