Bhubaneswar: State Election Commission (SEC) is planning to hold Odisha’s three-tier panchayat elections in April-May 2027, around two to three months later than the usual schedule, with officials citing the nationwide Census exercise as the primary reason for the delay.Santosh Kumar Dash, SEC secretary, says that schoolteachers, who are extensively deployed for both Census and election duties, are expected to remain engaged in the Census operations until early March. “Teachers involved in Census duty will be free after the first week of March. Accordingly, we are preparing for elections in April-May. Polling can be held about 45 days after notification,” he says.The second phase of the Census — primary Population Enumeration — is scheduled from Feb 9 to 28, 2027, making it difficult to conduct elections before completion of the exercise.The tenure of the current three-tier rural local bodies, elected in Feb 2022, is set to end in March 2027. The last panchayat polls were held between Feb 16 and 24, 2022, following a notification issued on Jan 13 that year. If the revised timeline is followed, the notification for the next elections is likely to be issued only after mid-March 2027.Odisha has more than 6,700 gram panchayats, 314 panchayat samitis and 852 zilla parishad zones.As part of the election preparations, the SEC has convened a videoconference with district collectors on July 21. Officials say the commission is continuing its door-to-door survey for the preparation of electoral rolls for the rural body polls, independent of the ongoing special intensive revision of the voter list.Before the elections, the SEC will also complete ward delimitation and finalise reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.The proposed delay, however, drew political reactions. BJD MLA Sarada Prasad Jena alleged that the state govt was deliberately postponing the elections as part of a “nefarious design”.Rejecting the charge, BJP media coordinator Sujit Das said the SEC was functioning independently and working towards conducting free and fair elections. “The BJD’s reaction shows the party is already panicking as its support base is rapidly eroding,” Das said.
