BHUBANESWAR: In a step forward towards holding of the panchayat polls early next year, the State Election Commission on Monday announced that the final voters’ list will be published on December 14, 2021. All persons who attain 18 years of age will be entitled to enlist their names in the electoral rolls, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Aditya Prasad Padhi told mediapersons here. Elections will have to be conducted before the completion of the terms of the panchayat bodies in March, 2022.
The SEC said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had declared the assembly constituency wise voters’ list on January 1. He said that the voters’ list will be split up ward-wise and displayed at the gram panchayat headquarters from November 16 to 23. Any person can seek change by filling up Forms 16 and 17 that would be available with the in-charge electoral registration officer, by November 23. The SEC said the electoral registration officer will go through the claims and take a decision from November 24 to 26. Those who are not satisfied with the draft voters’ list, can file an objection with the Block Development Officer (BDO), who is the appellate authority, by November 29 and 30.
The BDO will conduct a hearing by December 1 or 2. The final voters’ list will be prepared by December 4 and sent to the State Election Commission by December 6. The Commission will publish it by December 14, he added.The Electors Photo Identification Card (EPIC) ID number of the voters will be added along with their names to the list. The SEC said that according to the assembly constituency wise voters’ list published by the ECI in January, 2021, there were 2,78,39,451 rural voters out of which, 1,42,00,589 were male and 1,36,36,879 female. Besides, 1,947 voters belong to the third gender.