Nearly 35 per cent of 1.06 lakh seats in Odisha panchayat polls were decided uncontested, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Wednesday.
In 36,976 seats, which is 34.77 per cent of 1,06,329, there was only one candidate each, it announced a day after the last date of withdrawal of nominations.
Of the 853 Zilla Parishad seats, one was decided uncontested, it said.
"Kalpana Pradhan (BJD) declared elected uncontested as Z.P Member, Zone No-2, Ambabhona Block in Bargarh District," the SEC said in a statement.
Of the 6,793 Sarpanch posts, 126 were decided uncontested, while 326 of 6,793 Panchayat Samiti seats were declared uncontested.
Of total 91,890 ward member posts, 36,523 (39.74 per cent) were decided uncontested, the SEC said.
Polling is scheduled to be held in five phases, beginning February 16. The votes will be counted on February 26, 27 and 28 at block offices.
Only Zilla Parishad members contest the panchayat elections with party symbols in Odisha.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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