Bhubaneswar: As the political atmosphere in the State hots up for urban poll, the political parties will start knocking the doors of the State Election Commission (SEC) bringing allegations on violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
To deal with that, the SEC has formed a Screening Committee headed by Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra to examine proposals relating to MCC.
“The State Election Commission, Odisha has constituted a Screening Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, Odisha for examining proposals relating to Model Code of Conduct before the same is forwarded to the State Election Commission for clearance with full details and a note of urgency, i.e. why the proposal can’t wait till completion of the elections during the enforcement of Model Code of Conduct for the ensuing General Elections to ULBs, 2022,” read an order issued by the Commission on Thursday.
Principal Secretary GA and PG Department has been appointed as a member of the panel while another member will be ACS or secretary of the concerned Department of which the proposal is related.
After examining the proposal, the panel will send it to the SEC for necessary action. No proposal shall be forwarded to the Commission directly without the prior approval of the Screening Committee, said the order.
Meanwhile, in another order, the SEC also clarified that the Model Code of Conduct will also be made applicable to the employees of Municipalities, NACs, Municipal Corporations, Development Authorities, Regional Improvement Trusts and all such offices located in concerned Urban Local Bodies till March 26, 2022.
On the other hand, the filing of nomination papers for election of various posts in 109 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) is going on in the State. The interested candidates can file their nominations till March 7.
The nominations are being sold for the post of Mayor and Corporators in three Municipal Corporations, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur while the nomination for Chairperson and Councillors are available at the EO office in 47 Municipalities, 59 Notified Area Councils (NACs).
Scrutiny of the papers will be done on March 9 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 14 (excluding government holiday). The election will be held on March 24 and the result will be declared on March 26.
Over 41 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the Urban poll. About 27 lakh voters, 3,030 booths and 1731 wards are there in 106 Municipalities and NACs while there are 14.26 lakh voters, 168 wards and 1407 booths in three Corporations.