Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: After the completion of the three-tier panchayat elections, all eyes are now on the Zilla Parishad chairperson elections that is scheduled to be held in Odisha today.

The leaders of political parties are keeping a close watch on the developments and have adopted different strategies to prevent cross-voting in few districts of the state.

As per the notification of the State Election Commission, the nomination process will start from 10 am while the election in case of one of more candidates will be held from 1:30 pm to 4 pm.

Official sources said, the ruling BJD candidates are likely to form zila parishad councils in 14 districts followed by BJP in seven while one post is likely to go in favour of the Congress.

Earlier, major political parties including the BJD had issued whip to all its zila parishad members to vote on party lines so as to leave no chance to capture the panchayat samitis.

The party Supremo Naveen Patnaik had also held a meeting with the senior leaders, including the district unit presidents, earlier this week to draw up strategy for the elections to the chairpersons of the 314 panchayat samitis held yesterday and presidents of 30 zila parishad members.

The political parties including BJP, Congress and the BJD have clearly instructed their MLAs and leaders from respective districts to ensure victory of the ZP members who have been given tickets for the chairperson seat.

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