Stage All Set for Second Phase Panchayat Elections; Over 62 Lakh to Cast Votes Today

Bhubaneswar: The stage is all set for the second phase of the three-tier Panchayat polls in Odisha.

The polls will be held in 20,436 booths across all the districts in which more than 62 lakh voters will exercise their franchise. In the second phase elections will be held in 68 blocks for 186 Zilla Parishad Zones. There are 747 candidates in the fray for the ZP seats.
The Odisha Police has made elaborate arrangements to ensure violence free elections and is deploying 240 platoons of forces for security. Special arrangements have also been made for deployment of 1753 mobile patrolling teams all over the state.

DGP Sunil Bansal has said that efforts are being made to arrest all those who had created disturbance during the first phase of the elections and there will not be any leniency shown to the perpetrators.

In a statement, Odisha Police has said that “The elections will be conducted with strict enforcement of the State Election Commission guideline and Covid-19 protocols.”

Taking strict cognizance of the disturbances in few places during the first phase of the polls, the Odisha police has arrested 16 persons in Puri district, 14 in Jaipur district and 6 in Dhenkanal district. On the other hand, the police has also seized 387177 liters of liquor, 38 illegal arms, 2216.56 grams of narcotic drugs, registered 4966 excise cases and executed 1903 pending warrants during the election process so far.