Prepared for 3rd phase panchayat polls in Odisha: SEC

Bhubaneswar: Preparations are completed to conduct third phase Panchayat polls in Odisha on Friday.

The panchayat polls will be held for 1394 Panchayats, 18,859 Ward Members and 175 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones in 65 blocks of 30 districts.

State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Rabindranath Sahu said a total of 53,234,993 people would exercise their franchise in the third phase polls.

He said the polling parties have left for their respective polling booths and will arrive at their destination by this afternoon.

Sahu said additional police force have been deployed at the sensitive booths to ward off any untoward incident and ensure free and fair polls.

The SEC secretary further said that in the third phase Panchayat polls, polling would be held in Deogarh district which was scheduled in the first phase polls but was deferred due to security reasons.