Urban local body polls in Odisha on Sept 19

The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday issued notification for conducting the elections in 91 urban local bodies.

According to the notification, polls for the Berhampur municipal corporation, 32 municipalities and 58 NACs (notified area councils) will be held on September 19. The elections are meant to choose 1529 councilors and 40 corporators for 1569 wards.

The candidates can file their nominations from August 20 to 24. The nominations will be scrutinised on August 26 and the final list of candidates will be declared on August 29. The results will be announced on September 20.

As many as 2.75 million voters will exercise their franchise in 3,010 booths.

The urban local body election is going to be another test for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) before the assembly polls, to counter the Opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that have seen a recent change of guard in state leadership.

The model code of conduct issued by the commission came into force with immediate effect and shall remain till September 20, the date of declaration of the result.

"Besides the limits of the concerned local body, the model code of conduct would be applicable for works in the peripheral rural areas if the said works are intended for influencing the urban voters", said SEC Ajit Kumar Tripathy.

Tripathy, however, said, relief and rehabilitation operations can continue. The SEC has asked the state government not to announce any new scheme or take any policy decision. The commission has apprised the Central Government not to announce any Odisha centric programme during the period.

The election of chairperson/mayor and vice chairperson will be done on September 30 and October 22 respectively.