BHUBANESWAR: The all important elections for the three-tier panchayati raj institutions in Odisha, seen as a reality-check for political parties before the next General Elections, would kick off from February 13, 2017. The polls would be held over five phases.
The State Election Commission (SEC), which notified the election here on Tuesday, has set the polling dates on February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Polling on the five days would start at 7 am and continue till 12 noon. Counting will commence at 1 pm till completion.
The elections would be held for 853 Zilla Parishad members, 6,665 panchayat samiti members, 6,801 sarpanches and 92,029 ward members out of which 50 per cent have been reserved for women.
With the announcement of the polls by SEC R N Senapati, the model code of conduct has come into force and it would remain in effect till February 21 throughout the State.
However, election to posts of sarpanch and 23 ward members of Dhinkia gram panchayat in Jagatsinghpur’s Ersama block will not be held as per the orders of the Orissa High Court.
Similarly, polling for samiti members of six gram panchayats, including Parjang (Dhenkanal), Dasarathpur (Jajpur), Kolabira and Laikera (Jharsuguda), Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi) and Rengali (Sambalpur) have not been notified for similar reasons.
Senapati said normal development works and programme, which have already been started, and relief and restoration works for which expenditure has been passed in the State Assembly will continue. However, no new schemes or projects can be floated. Similarly, financial concessions by Government or its agencies cannot be declared as they are likely to influence the voters, directly or indirectly.
The SEC has already instructed the Government not to transfer any official, including Collectors and SPs, without its prior permission. State employees related to the elections have also been asked to maintain neutrality.
As per the schedule of the elections, nomination papers can be filed between January 11 and 17. Scrutiny will be held on January 18 while the last date of withdrawal of nominations is January 21. The final list of eligible contestants will be declared the same day. There are 853 ZP members, 6,801 panchayat samiti members, 6,802 sarpanches and 92,052 ward members in the State. As many as 2.60 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise during the polls by producing their identity cards at the polling stations.