The Odisha government on Wednesday sounded bugle for elections to the urban bodies, including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur municipal corporations, with polling for the last phase of panchayat election set to draw to an end on Thursday.
The state housing and urban development department on Wednesday issued a notification to this effect.
“Now, therefore, in pursuance of section 64 of the said Act (Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003) the state government do hereby call upon all wards in the city of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Cuttack.
Municipal Corporation and Berhampur Municipal Corporation to elect Mayors and Corporators in accordance with the provisions of the said Act and Rules and order made there under,” said the notification.
Elections will be held for 107 notified area council (NAC) and municipalities and three municipal corporations.
The terms of elected mayors, chairpersons and councillors would be five years.
The State Election Commission (SEC) said: “The preparation to conduct election to urban bodies is in the final stage. The elections will be held in 4,584 booths in urban areas.”
“Election to urban bodies will be announced at any moment. The SEC has already made it clear that it is ready to hold the election in urban bodies,” a senior official said.
The state poll panel has also maintained that it is going to introduce the NOTA (none of the above) option in the urban elections for the first time.
“The NOTA button will be there in the last bottom of the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine). There will be two EVMS available in all the booths. While one EVM will be used to elect corporators and councillors, the other EVM will be used to elect the mayor or the chairman,” an official said.
For the first time, mayors in corporations and chairpersons in urban bodies such as municipalities and NAC will be directly elected by the voters.
Earlier, they were elected by corporators and councillors.
Election to the urban bodies has already been delayed by over three years. Till now, the Opposition had been accusing the government of delaying the elections to the urban bodies out of the fear of losing its hold on the urban areas.
On the other hand, the government has completed the delimitation process and made it clear that it is ready to face the electoral test.
In the last urban polls in 2013-14, elections were held for 94 urban bodies and the BJD had swept the elections in 70 urban bodies.
The Congress came second by capturing 15 urban bodies, independents got six and the BJP managed to win two urban local bodies.