An estimated 8.26 lakh voters will elect nearly 198 Sarapanchs and Panchayat Samiti Members each, 26 Zilla Parishad members, besides 3,364 ward members in Jagatsinghpur district.
The district administration called all district officials and senior police officers here on Monday and discussed various issues for smooth conduct of the PRIs polls which will begin from February 13.
District Collector- cum- Election Officer Yamini Sarangi said officials, political parties, persons, persons proposing to contest elections and everyone else concerned with the election process had been directed to rigidly follow the Model Code of Conduct [MCC] fixed by the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.
The Collector asked officials to maintain a neutral approach. Any incident of violation of the MCC should be reported in writing within 24 hours either to the district Collector or BDOs or to the SEC, following which action would be taken against the alleged violator under Section 188 of IPC.
Moreover, no person who is in the service of the State Government or of any local authority shall canvas on behalf of any candidate or otherwise, interfere in any way or use his influence in an election. This would invite strict punishment. The person could be terminated from job, the Collector warned.