Panchayat polls: SEC countermands elections to 8 seats

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Bhubaneswar: With the three-tier panchayat polls in Odisha scheduled to kick off on February 13, the State Election Commission (SEC) has countermanded elections to eight seats.

The Commission has cancelled elections for the post of 4 ward members, 2 sarpanchs, 1 panchayat samiti member and one zilla parishad member following the death of the candidates.

“As per the rules and provisions in the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, if a candidate dies after the announcement of the final list and before the election, in that case the election would be countermanded. After the withdrawal of nomination papers on January 21, elections to eight seats in different places in the state have been countermanded so far. The eight seats include a zilla parishad member, one panchayat samiti member, two sarpanchs and four ward members,” SEC secretary Rabindranath Sahu told media persons here today.

Elections to two sarpanch seats in Badabambua panchayat under Bisra block in Sundargarh district and Tukudiha panchayat in Keonjhar district, one seat of zilla parishad member in zilla parishad zone-8 under Gania block in Nayagarh district, one seat for a member of Badagan panchayat samiti under Balikuda block in Jagatsinghpur district, ward member of ward no-2 of Khirakona in Balasore district, ward member of ward no-9 of Dhusuri in Bhadrak district, ward member of ward no-21 of Bagalagada under Niali block in Cuttack district and ward member of ward no-8 of Bamuni under Kosagumuda block in Nabarangpur district, have been countermanded due to the death of the candidates.

“Fresh elections would be held for these 8 seats after the panchayat polls for which SEC will finalise the date,” Sahu added.