BHUBANESWAR: The three-tier panchayat elections will be held over five phases beginning February 11. The State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday notified the polls to be held on February 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. With the announcement of the schedule, the model code of conduct has come into effect and will remain in force till February 19. The ongoing flood reconstruction and damage repair works will continue but no new projects can be taken up, State Election Commissioner Ajit Kumar Tripathy told mediapersons here.As per the notification, election will be held to all gram panchayats (GPs) except Dhinkia under Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district where the conflict over Posco continues to linger. Accordingly, there will be no election for sarpanch for Dhinkia GP and 23 wards since their tenure is yet to be over. However, election will be held for panchayat samiti and ZP members. Similarly, sarpanch elections for seven GPs are not notified as directed by the Orissa High Court. While voting will be held between 7 am and 12 noon, counting will start at the same booths after an hour. Officially, the results will be announced on February 21 (for sarpanch and ward member) and February 22 (for panchayat samiti and zilla parishad member). Indirect elections for naib sarpanch, block chairman and ZP chairman will be held on March 10, 11 and 13 respectively. Since election will be held in phases, the collectors have been asked to identify blocks-wise dates for polling by December 31. In one district, different blocks can go to polls in separate phases. Tripathy said the district collectors and SPs have also been directed to identify the sensitive booths so that security arrangements can be made.As per the schedule brought out by the SEC, election officers in the respective districts will issue notices for election on January 3. Nomination papers will be filed between January 7 and 12 while scrutiny will be held on January 13. After candidates are given a chance to withdraw nominations, the final list will be published on January 18. During the five-phase polls, close to 2.44 crore voters will elect 854 zilla parishad members, 6,228 sarpanches, 6,231 panchayat samiti members and 87,528 ward members. Fifty per cent of the posts are reserved for women.
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