106 civic bodies and three municipal corporations in Odisha will vote today, officials say. There will be a lot of security around the polls, they add.
205 platoons of police have been sent out for the polling, which starts at 8 am and lasts until 5 pm. One platoon has 20 people in it.
People will vote in 3,068 booths in 1,731 wards in 106 civic bodies. Officials say that 168 wards will go to the polls in the three municipalities: Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Berhampur. There are 1,407 polling places set up.
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State Election Commissioner AP Padhi says that about 40.55 million people can vote.
He said people should vote without fear, urging them to do so. The district and police have been very careful, he said.
A security system with CCTV has also been set up in the strong rooms, police say. This is to make sure that the EVMs are safe at all times.
As many as 6,411 people are running for the job, officials say.
One EVM will choose the mayor or chairperson, and another will be used to choose the other candidates. When people vote in cities for the first time in a while, they will be able to choose “NOTA.”
Following changes to the municipal laws, the mayors and chairpersons will be elected directly by the people who live there.
As many as 22,000 people have been hired to help with the polling. People who work at each polling place will have a presiding officer and four polling place staffers.
Police have also found 24,663 liters of alcohol, 98 illegal guns, and 3.4 kg of drugs in the run-up to the election. As many as 1,377 excise cases were filed, and 480 pending warrants were executed before the election held on March 6.
