Ready for panchayat polls, Odisha Govt tells SEC

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Dec 21, 2016 at 11:33 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 21:

The Panchayati Raj Department of Odisha Government today issued a notification announcing its preparedness for the Zilla Parishad polls. The government, recently had notified the State Election Commission (SEC) of its preparedness for the panchayat polls as well.

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The government will issue a gazette notification on the polls on December 23. The poll schedule will be announced anytime after December 24, said a source in the government.

Meanwhile, an all-party meeting organised by the SEC to deliberate on the poll strategy had to be cancelled as BJP, Congress and the Left parties boycotted the meet citing various reasons.

In a related development, the SEC today increased the poll expenditure limit for the candidates during the panchayat polls.

According to the new guidelines, expenditure for Zilla Parishad candidates has been capped at Rs 2 lakh. For both Panchayat Samiti member and Sarpanch candidates, the expenditure limit has been capped at Rs 80,000.

As many as 6,805 panchayats of the state will go to polls along with 853 Zilla Parishads in February 2017.