Panchayat polls: SEC calls all-party meeting tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: The State Election Commission has called all-party meeting tomorrow to discuss various issues relating to the ensuing Panchayat polls in Odisha scheduled in February next year.

“The Commission has called an all-party meeting at 4 PM tomorrow to discuss about the preparation and management of panchayat polls,” Rabindranath Sahu, secretary, SEC, told media persons here this afternoon.

Issues relating to poll itinerary, filing of nominations, poll expenditure and use of vehicles during election and election code of conduct would be discussed threadbare at the meeting, he added.

Sources said that the Commission is mostly likely announce the date of election in a couple of days.

As announced by the Commission, elections will be held in 853 Zilla Parishads and 92,045 wards of 6804 Panchayats.

Notably, the state government has created 594 new Panchayats who will participate in the elections next year.

It may be mentioned that the SEC had called the all-party meeting on December 21. But it had to defer the date as the BJP boycotted the meeting as it had given Bhubaneswar bandh call on that day demanding resignation of Bhubaneswar Mayor Anant Narayan Jena in connection with the death of Asutosh Mohanty alias Rishi.

Besides, the Congress had also boycotted the meeting on the same issue.