Panchayat Elections to Be Held in 6,794 GPs in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Panchayat elections will be held in 6,794 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Odisha next year, according to an official.

This time, the elections will not be conducted in 7 GPs as they have been included in NACs.

In 2017, as many as 6,801 GPs went into polls.

In the upcoming elections scheduled to be held early next year, polls will not be held in 7 GPs – four from Remuna in Balasore, two from Odanga in Nayagarh and one from Bijepur in Bargarh district, informed
State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Rabindra Nath Sahu.

He said that the three-tier panchayat elections will be held in total 91,916 wards, excluding 111 wards.

In 2017, the elections were held in 92,027 wards.

Meanwhile, the SEC has raised the poll expenditure limit for candidates contesting the ensuing panchayat elections.

According to a notification issued by the SEC, the expenditure limit of Zilla Parishad member has been raised to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh while that of panchayat samiti member and sarpanch has gone up to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 80,000.

The SEC has issued guidelines on the use of vehicles during campaign by candidates for the polls. Zilla Parishad member candidates can use five jeeps or cars and 10 motorcycles for campaigning. Similarly, Panchayat Samiti member and sarpanch candidates have been allowed to use two jeeps or cars and 5 motorcycles for campaigning.

The SEC has also extended voting time by one hour.

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