Bhubaneswar: The last date for withdrawal of nominations for the urban local body polls was Monday. After the time for withdrawal ended, sources in the State Election Commission (SEC) informed that a total of 6,411 candidates have remained in the fray.
The sources said that, 641 candidates have withdrawn their nominations. A total of 569 candidates have remained in fray for the post of chairperson and mayor while 5,842 candidates will be vying to become councillors and corporators.
A total of 102 candidates who had filed their nominations for the posts of chairperson and mayor in different Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have withdrawn their papers. Similarly, 539 councilor and corporator candidates took back their nominations, the officials said.
Meanwhile, the commission has asked district collectors to ensure that the ongoing campaigning for urban polls in Odisha ends at 5.00pm March 22.
After receiving queries from different districts, SEC secretary RN Sahu has written to the district collectors on this aspect.
As per Odisha Municipal Rules and Odisha Municipal Corporation Rules, ‘No person shall convene, hold or attend any public meeting in any polling area during the period of 48 hours preceding the hour fixed for the closure of the poll for any election in that polling area’.
This being the provision, the SEC has directed that any public meetings and campaigning in any mode would be stopped at 5.00pm, March 22, 2022 positively, Sahu said in the letter.
Urban elections will be held March 24 and the results will be declared March 26.
Over 41 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the poll. About 27 lakh voters, 3,030 booths and 1,731 wards are there in 106 municipalities and NACs while there are 14.26 lakh voters, 168 wards and 1,407 booths in three corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.
Final number of candidates: Chairperson/mayor-569; Councillor/corporators-5842
Nominations withdrawn: Chairperson/mayor-102; Councillor/corporator-539