Cuttack (Odisha), Aug 25 (PTI) The Orissa High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the state chief secretary, the State Election Commission (SEC) and others in connection with petitions seeking immediate election to the urban local bodies (ULBs), which was not held after expiry of the boards' terms around three years ago.

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Holding analogous hearing of three similar petitions, a division bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar issued the notices seeking to know within four weeks as to why elections to the ULBs were not held for such a long time. The notice was also sent to two other secretaries.

The five-year term of 114 ULBs has ended in September 2018 or earlier.

The petitions were filed by senior BJP leader and former minister Samir Dey, former bureaucrat Prasanna Mishra and BJP MLA Jayant Sarangi.

The petitions alleged that the SEC, which conducts the civic polls, has failed in carrying out its Constitutional mandate.

(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)