Three days passed, but not a single nomination paper has been filed in as many as 10 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) out of the total 22 UlBs in western Odisha that are scheduled to go to polls on November 22.
According to the State Election Commission (SEC) sources, 100 nomination papers have been sold in these 10 UlBs. The total number of papers sold for all UlBs so far is 687, it added. On the third day on Wednesday, a total of 51 candidates filed their nomination papers in 12 UlBs and the total number of nominations touched to 155. Though the Central Action Committee (CAC) of lawyers of the western Odisha have been demanding the setting up of High Court bench in western Odisha and opposing the elections with the slogans- ‘No court, No vote’, there was a sharp division in the western Odisha on the issue of holding of elections to the UlBs.
As per the election schedule fixed by the SEC, the scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on November 4, while elections are scheduled for November 22. Results will be declared on November 23. Notably, the western Odisha lawyers had stalled the September 19 urban elections in nine districts. They called had off the strike on September 29 after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recommended the Centre to set up high court benches in western and southern parts of the State.