Bhubaneswar: With the last day for withdrawal of nominations for the Urban Polls in the state concluding today, 569 candidates have remained in the fray for various Chairperson and Mayor Posts in the state. Likewise, 5842 candidates remained in the fray for the various Corporator and Councilor posts for which the elections will be held on the 24th of this month.
By today evening, 102 candidates who filed nominations for the Chairpersons and Mayor Posts withdrew their nominations and 539 candidates withdrew their nominations for the post of Councillor and Corporators.
Elections are being held for 106 Urban Local Bodies of the state including 47 Municipalities, 59 Notified Area Councils and three Municipal Corporations.
In another order, the State Election Commission has written to the District Collectors to ensure that the candidates contesting for various posts wind up their campaigning by the evening of March 22nd.
The letter read, “No person shall convene, hold or attend any public meeting in any polling area during the period of 48 hours preceding the hour fixed for the closure of the poll for any election in that polling area.”
Public meetings and campaigning by candidates in any form is prohibited from evening 5 pm on March 22. The SEC also directed the officials to widely publicise the directives in all the ULBs where elections are going to be held.