Panchayat polls: Private employees to get leave to cast their votes

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has asked all private organisations, industries and business houses to provide leave to employees for voting during the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.

The state government’s move came after the State Election Commission (SEC) requested to facilitate leaves for employees of private firms to cast their votes in the five phase panchayat elections.

The Labour department and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) have directed all industrial houses, private firms and other businesses to give their employees earned leave for polling.

The state will conduct voting for panchayat, zilla parishad members and ward members in the three tier elections on February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21.

Earlier, the state government had declared one day holiday for employees of all government undertakings and departments working in their block and three days for those working outside their district of polling.