Odisha SEC announces panchayat poll schedule

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 7: 

Odisha State Election Commission (SEC) today announced the detailed schedule for the panchayat polls scheduled to be held in February 2017.

According to SEC secretary Rabindra Sahu, voting will be conducted in five phases in a block-wise pattern.

“The three-tier panchayat polls will be held across the state in five phases on February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Earlier, we had provisions to conduct the polls in a block-wise and zilla parishad zone wise pattern. This year, polls will mostly be held block-wise,” said Sahu.

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.