Bhubaneswar: As many as 195 platoons of the Police Force have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the upcoming Odisha Municipal Elections that are scheduled to be held on March 24, 2022, informed State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi in a press meet on Monday.
Reportedly, 22,000 polling personnel will be deployed during the voting on Mar 24. A total of 40.55 lakh voters will cast their votes during the upcoming ULB polls.
The campaigning will end by 5 pm on March 22. The voting will begin from 8 AM-5 PM on March 24. Thereafter, the counting will be held on March 26 to begin at 8 AM, said SEC Padhi.
The municipal elections will be held in 106 Urban Local Bodies. The Mayor and Chairperson will be elected directly for the first time.
The voting for Councillor and Corporator posts will be held through Electronic voting machines (EVM) in the upcoming Municipal Elections. Each booth will be provided with two EVMs. There will be one EVM for the posts of Councillor and Corporator while another for Mayor and Chairperson.
There will be three strong rooms for EVMs under CCTV surveillance. Each booth will have one presiding officer and four pooling officers. There presiding officers and polling officers who will be in charge of municipal elections can cast their vote on ballot papers, provided they belong to the same region where they are posted for poll duty, added SEC Padhi.
There will be no Covid restrictions during the upcoming Odisha Municipal Elections.
Notably, the Odisha government has instructed to grant paid holidays to the employees of various departments on the date of the poll to cast their votes in the upcoming municipal elections. The Labour department wrote a letter to the Revenue Divisional Commissioners, Collectors, Public sector undertakings, Corporations, Establishments, Business, Trade, and Industrial Undertakings.
“The State Election Commission has notified the poll schedule for ensuing General Elections to Urban Local Bodies, 2022 (106 municipalities, NACs and 3 municipal corporations) on 24.03.2022 from 8 am to 5 pm. To facilate the voters in these areas to exercose their franchise, the State Election Commission has recommended that every person in any business, trade, industrial undertaking, or any other establishment and desiring to vote in the said election shall be granted paid holiday on the date of poll,” the Labour Department said in its order.
Ms Kalinga