Even as the State Department of Housing & Urban Development (DoHUD) on Thursday issued notification for elections to 91 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) in the third week of September, elections to the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Municipal Corporations will be held later.
Director of Municipal Administration and Special Secretary of DoH&UD Hrushikesh Tripathy has intimated the State election Commission (SEC) about the Government’s preparedness for conduct of polls in 90 Municipalities and Notified Area Councils (NACs) and in the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation. With the Government’s approval to the proposal of elections, the SEC is authorised to come out with notifications on dates and process of elections any time from now. Official sources said the SEC’s notifications are likely to be out by Monday next as the intervening three days are holidays.
It may be noted that the ruling BJD was reportedly in favour of not holding the UlB elections now, but the Odisha High Court, in response to a batch of petitions, directed the Government and the SEC on August 6 to go ahead with election process. Meanwhile, the Government has already amended the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950 reserving 50 per cent of seats for women. As per the amended Act, the District Magistrates have completed the notification process in this regard. Many petitioners had challenged the reservation of seats in the High Court, pointing out that the reservation of seats has been made according to the 2001 census although the 2011 census report was also available with the Government.