India News | Campaign Ends for 1st Phase Panchayat Polling on Feb 16

Bhubaneswar, Feb 14 (PTI) The high-pitched campaign for the first phase of the three-tier pancahayat election on February 16 ended here on Monday evening.

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As per the schedule, election will be held for 200 zilla parishad seats, 1,669 sarpanch posts, 1,669 samiti member seats and 22,379 ward member posts in 71 blocks of 30 districts on February 16, the State Election Commission official said.

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A total 67.51 lakh people are eligible to vote on that day when polling will be held between 7 am and 1 pm, the SEC said.

While polling parties have already left for the booths in 11 districts on Monday, another batch will reach the polling stations on Tuesday, the official said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made with focus on left wing extremism infected districts where the Maoists have appealed to the people to boycott panchayat elections.

“Special security arrangements have been made in the districts of Malakngiri, Koraput, Kalahanadi, Bolangir, Rayagada and Kandhamal in view of the Maoist presence in those districts,” said a senior police officer engaged in anti-Maoist operations.

SEC, Odisha, A P Padhi said the arrangements have been made for video recording at sensitive booths and CCTVs have been installed at counting and strong rooms where ballot boxes to be stored after the polling.

All MLAs, MPs and senior leaders of three major parties like BJD, BJP and Congress campaigned in different parts of the state. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who did not campaign for the rural poll in 2017, did not do so for his party candidates this time too.

OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, who was infected with COVID-19 few days ago, also kept himself away from campaigning. Union ministers Jual Oram and Pratap Sarngi beside BJP state president Samir Mohanty actively participated in the campaign.

The parties took the help of cine artistes to woo voters. While Ollywood popular actor Varsha Priyadarshini campaigned for BJD candidate in Brahmapur panchayat of Bhadrak block, another actor Asrumochan Mohanty campaigned for Jagya Hentala, BJP's zilla parishad candidate from zone-2 of Borigumma block in Koraput.

Other Ollywood actors including Tamanna, Poonam and Debashis campaigned for the BJD with local MLAs.

Chhattisgarh Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhan campaigned for the Congress candidates in Rayagada's Kasipur and Tikiri, besides in Bisamcuttack and Munniguda.

(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)