Polling for 66 urban local bodies today

Results crucial for all parties ahead of assembly polls in 2014

The State Election Commission (SEC) has completed its preparation for tomorrow's polling for the urban local bodies' election in the state.

Polling will be conducted for 65 urban local bodies and one municipal corporation and people in 20 districts can cast their votes at the designated booths between 8 am and 5 am.

The commission has given special attention to Naxal-affected districts for smooth conduct of polls.

According to State Election Commissioner Ajit Kumar Tripathy, polling would be held in all the 1,968 booths through electronic voting machines (EVM) and fool-proof security arrangements have been made for holding elections in Naxal-affected areas.
 

He said, steps have been taken for video recording of casting of votes at all the booths. Besides, CCTVs would be installed in sensitive booths to record the proceedings to avoid any kind of malpractice. There are 365 sensitive booths of which 58 are categorised as highly sensitive.

The SEC is coordinating with the districts Collectors and SPs (superintendent of police) to ensure maintainance of law and order. District administrations have been advised to engage armed forces for peaceful conduct of the election in troubled areas.

While polling parties, each comprising of five officials, have been deployed at the booths, 26 senior officials have been appointed as observers to monitor the poll process. As many as 26 engineers have been engaged to take care of the EVMs to avoid any disruption due to technical snag, Tripathy said.

The urban local bodies' election holds significance for all political parties to gouge their strength ahead of assembly polls in 2014. It will be crucial for ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which had suffered a setback in elections for Nuapada, Atabira and Hindol notified area councils recently.

Initially elections were slated to be held for 91 urban local bodies. But as political parties in western Odisha decided to boycott the election to press for their demand for a permanent bench of the high court in their region, polls for 25 urban local bodies in nine districts were postponed by the State Election Commission (SEC).