Bhubaneswar: Over 40.55 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Odisha on March 24, State Election Commissioner (SEC) AP Padhi announced on Monday.
Campaigning for the polls to three municipal corporations, 47 municipalities and 59 NACs will end at 5 pm on March 22, he said. Polling will be held from 8 am to 5 pm on March 24, while counting of votes will take place on March 26.
A total of 61 candidates — who had filed nomination papers for three wards in the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) and 58 wards in other municipalities/NACs — have been declared winners unopposed, Padhi said.
He informed that no nominations have been filed for one ward each in Pattamundai municipality in Kendrapara, Kamakhyanagar NAC in Dhenkanal and Purusottampur NAC in Ganjam. Councillors to these reserved seats will be nominated by the Odisha government, he said.
Sixteen candidates are contesting for the post of Mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and an equal number for the post of Chairperson of Baripada municipality. Eighteen candidates are contesting for the post of Chairperson of Jeypore municipality.
As Mayors and Chairpersons are being elected directly, two EVMs will be used at each booth: one for Councillor/Corporator and the other for Chairperson/Mayor.
A total of 22,000 polling personnel will be on duty. Security will be provided by 195 platoons of police force, including 30 for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), 20 for CMC and 10 for BeMC.
Besides, 300 mobile parties will be deployed, of which 109 will be deployed in the three municipal corporations.
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