Ganjam admin removes political banners, posters after MCC comes into effect

Berhampur Municipal Corporation removes political banners, posters, and hoardings since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect. Massive drive were carried out in other areas of Odisha's Ganjam district.

Berhampur (Odisha): The Ganjam district administration removed banners, hoardings and other campaign materials from different areas on Monday since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect from Sunday evening, officials said.

The MCC came into effect as soon as the dates for the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls were announced.

A massive drive, for removing political banners, posters and hoardings, was carried out by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) as per the direction of district administration, they said.

"Several staff of the civic body are engaged in the day-long drive to remove these materials from different area of the town," the Commissioner of BeMC, Chakravarti Singh Rathore, said.

The BeMC authorities would intimate the district authorities about the details on removal of materials in the city, he said.

Similar drives were carried out in other areas of the district also, a senior BeMC officer said.

"We have also asked the authorities of different urban local bodies to ensure that not a single poster remained un-removed in their respective areas," he added.

Several hoardings with pictures of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were removed, officials said.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, S Kumar, had said on Sunday that all political posters and hoardings should be removed within 24 hours of declaration of the dates for the upcoming elections.