Panchayat Polls: Voting for Last Phase Underway

Bhubaneswar (Reporters Today Bureau): Voting for the fifth and final phase of Panchayat Polls in Odisha began at 7 AM in 25 districts of the State today. Voters will be able to cast their votes till 1 PM. Sources at the State Election Commission office informed a total of 41,88,382 voters will exercise their franchise during the fifth phase of the three-tier panchayat polls in 48 blocks. The polling will be held at a total of 13,514 booths in 131 Zilla Parishad zones and 975 Gram Panchayats during this phase.

The sources added as many as 520 candidates have been contesting for Zilla Parishad positions in the final phase of the rural polls. The final phase bears much significance as people in Swabhiman Anchal, the erstwhile cut-off areas of Chitrakonda block, in the Maoist-infested Malkangiri district will exercise their franchise after a gap of 15 years.

Villagers of Jodamba, Panasput, Andarapali, Jantri, Ralegarh and Gajalmamudi village in the Swabhiman Anchal will cast their votes to elect candidates for two Zilla Parishad (ZP), 18 Sarpanch and 200 Ward Member positions. As many as 41,582 voters will exercise their franchises at 222 polling stations in Chitrakonda today.