Odisha Civic Body Elections: Ward Reservation List Released For BMC, CMC And BeMC

Taking another step forward towards the smooth conduct of the Civic body elections across Odisha, the State Home and Urban Development Department on Saturday released ward reservation lists for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC).

However, the ward reservation lists have not been published For Rourkela and Sambalpur as civic elections will not take place in these cities due to pending court cases.

As per the notification, denizens of the urban bodies could either give their suggestions or lodge their complaints on the ward reservations within 10 days.

“After the due date, no suggestion or complaint will be accepted,” the notification read.

Earlier on October 26, the State government had started the process for delimitation of wards and ward-wise reservations for elections in 108 of the 115 urban local bodies (ULBs) in the State.

The State government had asked the district administrations to complete the delimitation and reservation in 105 towns, municipalities and Notified Area Councils (NACs) by December 13 and three Municipal Corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur by January 20.

The polls are overdue in most of the ULBs since December 2018. The government plans to hold the urban elections after the Panchayat elections.

Notably in October 21 this year, the Governor of Odisha, Professor Ganeshi Lal had given his assent to the Odisha Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, paving way for the much-awaited elections to 114 urban local bodies (ULBs) including five municipal corporations and 48 municipalities in the State.