A total of 7,152 candidates have filed their nomination papers for election to 109 urban local bodies (ULBs) including three municipal corporations which go to polls on March 24, the State Election Commission said on Monday.
The filing of nomination papers for different posts in the Notified Area Councils (NACs), municipalities and municipal corporations had started on March 2 and ended at 5 PM Monday.
While 693 candidates have submitted their nominations for the post of chairperson and mayors, 6,459 candidates have filed papers for the post of Councilor and Corporator in ULBs.
The highest number of 5,045 candidates filed their nominations on the last day. Of them 4,541 nominations were filed for councilor/corporator posts and the remaining 504 for the post of chairperson/mayors.
The mayoral candidates of all three major political parties in the state - BJD, BJP and Congress have filed their nomination for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Cuttack Municipal Corporations (CMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC).
According to the schedule announced by the State Election Commission, scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on March 9. The candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 14 excluding government holidays, the SEC said.