BHUBANESWAR: The stage is set for the urban local body (ULB) polls on March 24 as campaigning came to an end on Tuesday evening.
As many as 569 candidates are in the fray for the posts of Mayor and chairperson across 109 ULBs, including three municipal corporations. Besides, 5,781 candidates are contesting for the posts of corporators of municipal corporations and councillors of municipalities and notified area councils.
Voting will be held through EVMs. Counting will be held on March 26 and results will be declared the same day. Meanwhile, campaigning touched the crescendo across the State on Tuesday with candidates making last ditch efforts to reach out to the voters till the final moments.
While ministers, MLAs, senior leaders of different political parties campaigned for their candidates, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stayed away from electioneering. Even though the ruling BJD and BJP were the two visible political parties during the campaigning, Congress is also putting up a stiff challenge in some pockets despite the lack of resources.
All eyes are on elections to the Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur municipal corporations. As mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of other urban bodies will be elected directly by voters this time, political parties are leaving nothing to chance.
On the last day, political parties organised rallies and padayatras in different ULBs to catch the voters attention. BJD Mayor candidate for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Sulochana Das was confident about the result. “We want the blessings of the people. We have tried to touch every voter,” she said.
Her BJP rival Suniti Mund said that people want a change this time. Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi who led the campaign for Mund visited several areas on the last day seeking votes for her. She said that civic issues which could not be solved in Bhubaneswar city for the last 20 years will be solved by the BJP within two to three years. Similarly, Congress candidate Madhusmita Acharya campaigned in several parts of the city.