BHUBANESWAR: State Election Commision (SEC) on Monday lifted all Covid-19 restrictions on campaigning for the urban local body (ULB) polls in view of the decreasing new cases in the State. Announcing this, State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi said restrictions will be back if the number of Covid-19 cases goes up. Padhi said that elaborate steps have been taken by the Commission for the smooth conduct of the ULB polls on March 24.
There will be more polling personnel on duty as each booth will have two EVMs — one for councillor/corporator and the other for chairperson/mayor, he said. The SEC said that in each polling team, there will be one presiding officer and four polling officers. We have also made provisions for the polling personnel so that they can also exercise their franchise, if they are voters of the urban areas concerned, he added.
Elections to 106 ULBs (47 municipalities and 59 NACs) and three municipal corporations in Odisha will be held on March 24. The counting of votes will take place on March 26. Moreover, there will be NOTA option for voters as polling will be held in 1,731 wards in municipalities and NACs and 161 wards of three municipal corporations - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.