India News | 195 Platoons of Police, 22,000 Polling Personnel to Be on Duty for Odisha ULB Elections: SEC

Bhubaneswar, Mar 22 (PTI) The State Election Commission, Odisha said 195 platoons of police force and 22,000 polling personnel will be deployed for holding the elections to 109 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) on March 24.

Of the 195 platoons (1 platoon comprise 30 personnel) of police force, 30 platoon to be deployed for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), 20 for Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and 10 for Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC). Around 300 mobile parties will be deployed, of which 109 will be deployed in the three municipal corporations, State Election Commissioner, A P Padhi said on Monday.

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Stating that over 40.55 lakh voters will exercise their franchise, Padhi said campaigning for the polls to three municipal corporations, 47 municipalities and 59 NACs will end at 5 pm on Tuesday.

Polling will be held from 8 am to 5 pm on March 24, while counting of votes will take place on March 26.

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Padhi said 6,411 candidates are in the fray for the election. While 569 candidates are contesting for the post of chairperson and mayor, 5,842 candidates are there for the election to councillor and corporator seat.

The SEC also informed that a total of 61 candidates — who had filed nomination papers for three wards in the BeMC and 58 wards in other municipalities/NACs — have been declared winners unopposed.

Padhi also mentioned that no nomination papers have been filed for one ward each in Pattamundai municipality in Kendrapara, Kamakhyanagar NAC in Dhenkanal and Purusottampur NAC in Ganjam district. Councillors to these reserved seats will be nominated by the Odisha government, he said. As the election for the post of Mayor and Chairperson will be direct, two EVMs will be used at each booth: one for Councillor/Corporator and the other for Chairperson/Mayor election.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)