Bhubaneswar (Odisha): Voting for the fifth and final phase of Panchayat Polls in Odisha began on Thursday at 7 am. The polling will be held till 1 pm. According to a press release by the State Election Commission (SEC), the elections to 25 districts of the total 30 districts in the state will be held today.
A total of 41,88,382 voters will exercise their franchise during the fifth phase of the three-tier panchayat polls in 48 blocks. The polling will be held at a total of 13,514 booths in 131 Zilla Parishad zones and 975 Gram Panchayats during this phase. 520 candidates have been contesting for Zilla Parishad positions in the final phase of the rural polls.
The final phase bears much significance as people in Swabhiman Anchal, the erstwhile cut-off areas of Chitrakonda block, in the Maoist-infested Malkangiri district will exercise their franchise after a gap of 15 years.
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