Bhubaneswar: The State Election Commission on Wednesday deferred by-elections to various rural local body posts, citing “early onset of monsoon” in Odisha.
This came hours after it issued a series of notifications announcing the schedule for electing Zilla Parishad members, Panchayat Samiti members, Sarpanchs and Ward members across multiple districts with voting on June 23.
Later in a release, the SEC said that it received feedback from the district officials, public and the aspirants, expressing concern over likely disruption in the poll process and inconvenience to voters due to early onset of monsoon in the state. The commission then immediately sought a report from the IMD Regional Office, Bhubaneswar, which said that the conditions are likely to become favourable for monsoon onset over Kerala during the next 3-4 days and it may spread to some more parts of South & Central Bay of Bengal, North Bay Of Bengal and some parts of Northeastern states during the same period.
It said that this would mean that Odisha may also witness an early onset of monsoon. “Keeping this in view, the Commission reviewed its earlier decision and decided to defer the poll schedule for the by-election. Accordingly, the notification for by-election is cancelled and the same would be held after the monsoon season is over,” it added.