Over 2 lakh file nominations for Odisha panchayat polls

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 17:

As the filing of nominations phase of Odisha panchayat polls drew to an end today, State Election Commission (SEC) this evening said that 2,20,789 nominations have been filed across the state for the three-tier polls.

According to data provided by SEC Secretary Rabindranath Sahu, while highest 16,054 nominations have been filed in Balasore district, lowest 1,908 nominations have been filed in Jharsuguda district.

It further added that 3,880 nominations have been received for zilla parishad polls where the candidates can contest on party tickets.

As many as 33,348 nominations have been received for sarpanch positions and 27,475 nominations for panchayat samiti sabhya. Highest number of nominations, however, have been filed by ward member candidates with 1,56,086 applications.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held tomorrow. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is January 21 and the final list of candidates will be published on the same day.

According to the panchayat poll schedule announced by Sahu earlier, voting will be conducted in five phases on February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 in a block-wise pattern. Casting of votes would take place from 7 am to 12 noon and counting of votes will be done from 1 pm onwards on these days.

The zilla parishad zone voting in the blocks across the state, barring two blocks, will be conducted in the same day. Voting in Pattamundai block under Kendrapara district and in Kolnara block under Rayagada district will be held in two phases on separate dates.

In the first phase on February 13, as many as 189 zilla parishad zones across 65 blocks will go to polls. On February 15 in second phase, 175 zones across 65 blocks, another 175 zones across 65 blocks on February 17 in third phase, 162 zones across 62 blocks on February 19 in fourth phase, and 151 zones across 59 blocks on February 21 in the fifth phase will go to polls, according to Sahu.

The elections will be held for the posts of 853 Zilla Parishad Members, 6802 sarpanchs, 6801 panchayat samiti members and 92,052 ward members in which 2,60,92,507 voters will decide the fate of the candidates.