Bypoll to Palghar Assembly seat in Maharashtra to be held on February 13

The by-election to Palghar (ST) Assembly constituency in Maharashtra will be held on February 13, as per an announcement made by the Election Commission.

The bypoll has been necessitated following the demise of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Krishna Arjun Ghoda on May 24, 2015.

Ghoda was elected from the Palghar (ST) reserved tribal constituency during the 2014 Assembly elections.

The three-time MLA was returning from a marriage ceremony when he suffered a heart attack last year. He was rushed to a hospital at Vapi in Gujarat but was declared dead before admission.

He was the fourth sitting MLA of the current 13th Legislative Assembly to have passed away, the other three being Govind Rathod (BJP -from Mukhed), Prakash Bala Sawant (Shiv Sena - from Bandra East) and R R Patil (NCP - from Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal).

Ghoda had won the last Assembly election from Palghar defeating his nearest Congress rival Rajendra Gavit by a slender margin of just 515 votes.

He had joined the Sena prior to elections. Before that he was twice MLA from Congress and once represented the NCP.

The Palghar bypoll was due since June last year but the EC could not move ahead as an election petition, filed by Gavit, was pending.

Gavit had challenged Ghoda's election soon after the poll results were announced in 2014.

As per the bye-election schedule announced by the EC, the gazette notification will be issued on January 20. The last date for filing nomination papers is January 27 and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up on January 28. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is January 30.

The counting of votes will be taken up on February 16.