Parties step up panchayat poll campaign

Bhubaneswar: Political parties have intensified their panchayat poll campaign from today with star campaigners of BJP, BJD and Congress joining bike rallies and door-to-door campaigning in rural areas across the State.

The three major political parties with focus on zilla parishads have implemented action plan to woo the voters.

While BJD and BJP have fielded candidates in most of the places out of total 851 seats, Congress candidates are in poll battle at 839 places.

Also read: SEC defers panchayat poll process in Chitrakonda block

The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held in five phases: February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 in Odisha.