Voting for the urban local body has been started amid tight security on Thursday throughout Odisha. The voting began at 8 am and it will continue till 5 pm in the evening.
More than 40 lakh voters will cast their votes in this election which is being held for 47 municipalities, 59 NACs and 3 Municipal Corporations, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Berhampur.Â
Odisha Election Commission has set up 2989 booths in 1672 wards which come under Municipalities/Notified Area Councils (NACs) and 1384 booths under 165 wards of the Municipal Corporations. Over 22,000 polling personnel are posted for this election.Â
6411 candidates are in this contest, including 569 battling for the position of Mayor/Chairperson, while the rest 5842 are contesting for the Corporator/Councilor post.Â
As per reports, 195 platoons of armed forces, along with OSAP, IR Battalion, and Special Security Battalion, have been deployed to manage law and order during the election polls.Â
30 platoons of police force have been engaged for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) alone. On the other hand, 20 platoons have been deployed for Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), and 10 platoons for Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) respectively.Â
The state police have deployed 300 mobile parties Besides 195 platoons of force for peaceful voting across the state. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik sets an example for others by casting his vote for the urban body election today.
He inspired the people of Odisha for voting. It’s not unknown that, there are many educated as well as uneducated people who strive themselves from choosing the right candidate for different elections.
Like lacs of common people, CM also showed his Voter ID and stood in the queue till his turn came. He urged people to vote and strengthen democracy. Also, Patnaik requested them to abide by COVID guidelines throughout the voting and to encourage others to participate by casting their votes.Â
Published By – Damandeep Singh
Edited By- Khushi Thakur Â
