Bhubaneswar: The final electoral roll for the forthcoming civic body polls will be ready by the end of February, State Election Commissioner (SEC) A P Padhi informed on Wednesday.
The draft electoral roll will be first released on February 10. Citizens can raise objections before the election officer between February 11 and 16. And these will be verified on February 18. The revised voters’ list will be released on February 24 and submitted to the Election Commission by February 28.
“Since the Assembly constituency-wise electoral roll database was prepared on January 1, no new voters will be added to the list,” he added.
However, names found missing during the preparation of ward-wise electoral rolls for the ULB polls can be restored. “Correction will be allowed if the name of a voter from a particular ward is mistakenly added in another ward,” he added.
Padhi informed that the draft electoral roll will be published after splitting of the wards and for the first time, both soft and hard copies of the draft will be shared with the national and state-level parties.
“It will also be available for others on a payment basis,” he added.
Notably, the reservation list for councillors in all 107 Urban Local Bodies (NAC/Municipality) of state was released earlier in the day.
Of the total 1756 wards, 613 wards have been reserved for women while 668 are unreserved. While 122 wards have been reserved for scheduled caste (SC), 49 for scheduled tribes (ST). Similarly, 171 wards have been reserved for SC women and 133 for ST women.
Similarly, the final list of reservations for offices of chairpersons of municipalities and NACs was released by the Housing & Urban Development Department on January 31. Total 54 chairperson posts in these urban local bodies have been reserved for women. Among the 17 SC seats, nine have been reserved for women. Similarly, five of 8 SC seats have been reserved for women.
Also Read: Over 50 Chairperson Posts In Municipalities/ NACs Reserved For Woman
The department had earlier submitted the final ward delimitation and reservation list of three municipal corporations to the state election commission (SEC). The mayor post in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur municipal corporations have been reserved for women candidates while it is unreserved in Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
Elections to the ULBs have not been conducted since 2018 and SEC is likely to announce the dates in March after the five-phase rural polls.
The three-tier panchayat elections in Odisha will be held from February 16 to 24. Polling will take place on February 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 from 7 am to 1 pm. Results will be declared on February 26, 27 and 28. Counting will be done at the block level, not booths.
