BHUBANESWAR: With the first phase of panchayat elections only two days away, campaigning came to an end on Thursday across the State. The State Election Commission (SEC) made it clear that no campaigning will be allowed beginning Thursday 7 pm for subsequent phases of election.The three-tier panchayat polls will be held in five phases on February 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. As per the model code of conduct, no campaigning is allowed by any party or candidate during the intervening 36 hours before the polling starts and going by the norm, campaigning had to end in areas which go to polls on Saturday.However, the structure of the panchayat polls is such that voting in all the 30 districts will be held on all five days in different phases. This had created confusion among the political parties and candidates and the Commission was flooded with queries.The SEC issued a communication on Thursday and clarified that since electronic and print media cannot be restricted to different localities, the poll propaganda has to stop at 7 pm even though elections are scheduled for other days. As many as 82 blocks in 30 districts will go to polls on Saturday. The area will comprise 194 zilla parishad constituencies and 1,454 gram panchayats.With the campaigning coming to an end, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik too wound up the poll propaganda at his home constituency Hinjili. Naveen made a whirlwind tour of the area before returning to the Capital where he attended review meetings and a national e-governance conference. Over 2.44 crore voters will elect close to a lakh local representatives across the State during the five-phase polls.
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