Bhubaneswar, Jan 21 (IANS) The State Election Commission (SEC), Odisha, has begun preparations for conducting elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies in the state.

The Commission has also started the process to conduct elections to the 28 newly announced ULBs across Odisha.

Speaking to media persons, Santosh Kumar Dash, Secretary of the SEC, Odisha, on Wednesday, said that as per the Panchayat Rules and Municipal Acts, elections must be held every five years after the constitution of elected bodies.

Since the last PRI and ULB elections were conducted in 2022, the next round of polls is due in 2027. Dash said that the election process involves two major components — preparation of the electoral roll and the conduct of the polls.

The Commission has sought the latest revised electoral rolls from the Election Commission of India (ECI) through the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to begin the process of splitting the Assembly rolls into ward-wise and booth-wise rolls for both rural and urban areas.

He said a door-to-door verification drive is being carried out across all Panchayats and municipal wards to sanitise and update the voter list. Using dedicated software, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are identifying inclusion and exclusion errors to ensure that eligible voters are added and incorrect or duplicate entries are removed.

“This door-to-door survey is expected to take three to four months and constitutes nearly 50 to 60 per cent of the overall election preparation process,” Dash said.

He also said that the Commission has conducted multiple review meetings with district administrations to ensure readiness. Collector-level conferences were held on January 13 in Sambalpur for the Northern Division, and on January 7 and January 20 in Cuttack and Chhatrapur for the Central and Southern Divisions, respectively.

Collectors, Additional District Magistrates, Sub-Collectors, and Revenue Divisional Commissioners have been sensitised about logistics, manpower deployment, and administrative coordination for the upcoming elections.

On the newly created ULBs, Dash said that as per municipal rules, elections must be conducted within six months of notification. Since 28 new ULBs were notified on December 31, 2025, the election process must be completed by June 30, 2026, and new elected bodies must be in place by then.

“The Commission is fully prepared to ensure free, fair and transparent elections across rural and urban Odisha,” Dash said.

–IANS

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