Odisha rural, urban polls likely to be delayed for census works: SEC

Bhubaneswar, Jul 10 (PTI) The Odisha State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday said that panchayat and civic body polls due early next year are likely to be delayed by a month or two due to the ongoing census work. The State Election Commission has convened a meeting on July 21 to discuss the preparations for the panchayat and civic polls due next year, an official said. "Though elections to the three-tier panchayat polls are due in February 2027, it may be slightly delayed as the Census work will continue till the first week of March, 2027. Therefore, the notification for the rural polls (gram panchayats, panchayat samitis, and zilla parishads) is likely to be held in April-May 2027," SEC secretary Santosh Kumar Dash told reporters. He said the rural polls will immediately follow the urban elections. Stating that by the time of notification for the rural polls, the Election Commission's SIR activities will be completed and the final electoral roll should be available. Following the availability of the EC's electoral roll in September 2026, the state election panel will undertake a door-to-door survey ahead of the rural elections to make the electoral process more efficient. Along with this, a booth-wise survey will be conducted with the objective to ensure that voters of a particular ward cast their votes in one booth, he said. Replying to a question, the SEC secretary said as the census work will continue till the first week of March, it is not possible to conduct rural elections as the same personnel will be engaged in the census operation. Dash said that the State Election Commission has meanwhile, interacted with district collectors of all districts during visits to different revenue divisions. The next meeting on July 21, will be held at 11.30 am under the chairmanship of the State Election Commissioner M S Padhi. An official communication sent to districts said that apart from all collectors, the additional district magistrates (ADM) serving as the nodal officers for ULB elections, electoral registration officers (EROs), assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), and officials from the General Miscellaneous section of the respective collectorates, will also participate in the meeting. District administrations will also present the status of pending detailed contingent bills and utilisation certificates relating to the 2022 civic polls, they said. The meeting will also assess compliance with decisions taken during previous review meetings and discuss follow-up measures to ensure the timely completion of election-related activities. PTI AAM ACD AAM RG