Bhubaneswar, Feb 12 (PTI) The State Election Commssion, Odisha Saturday issued a new circular for the coming panchayat election prohibiting the presence of outsiders and political leaders in the poll-bound areas after campaigning.
All outsiders will have to leave the poll-bound areas by February 14 evening when campaigning for the first phase of election on February 16 ends, State Election Commissioner A P Padhi.
He spoke after holding a review meeting on rural and urban polls in the virtual mode with district collectors.
As per the schedule, the first phase polling will be held on February 16 for 200 zilla parishad seats, 1,669 sarpanch posts, 1,669 samiti member seats and 22,379 ward member posts in 71 blocks of 30 districts. A total of 67.51 lakh people can exercise their franchise that day, the SEC said.
Padhi said the Commission has already identified the sensitive booths and extra police personnel will be deployed along with video recording provisions to ensure a smooth election.
Videography will be done in sensitive polling booths and CCTVs will be installed in strong rooms (where ballot boxes used in the poll will be stored before counting) and during counting of votes, he said.
The panchayat election will be held in five phases on February 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols. Counting of votes and declaration of results will be done at block level on February 26, 27 and 28.
