By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 14, 2022: With the first phase of battle of ballots for the panchayat elections in Odisha scheduled on Wednesday, final preparations are being put in place for the smooth polling of votes for electing representatives to the three-tier Panchayati Raj bodies in the State.

In the first phase of election on February 16, votes will be polled at 200 zilla parishad zones in 71 blocks. Voting will be carried out at 22379 wards and 1669 panchayats across the State. As many as 67.51 lakh voters will exercise their franchise.

The panchayat elections are scheduled to be held in five phases on February 16, 18, 20, 22 and February 24, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has directed authorities to ensure that paid holiday is granted to the employees engaged in various public sector undertakings, corporations, establishments, business, trade and industrial units to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming three tier panchayat elections.

In a letter to all Revenue Divisional Commissioners (RDCs), PSUs, establishments, business, trade and industrial undertakings, the Labour and E.S.I Department has asked to enforce enforcement of the order of the State Election Commission (SEC).

“The State Election Commission has directed that every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertaking or any other establishment and desiring to vote in the said election shall be granted paid holiday on the date of poll,” the Labour Department said in its order.

“Any violation of the above instruction will be treated as an offence. The written application by the employees will be sufficient to show their enrolment in a particular gram panchayat,” the letter added.

Earlier, the Odisha government had directed all Principal Secretaries, Heads of Departments and all district Collectors, the Panchayati Raj and DW Department to grant Special Casual Leave to employees who desire to vote at places away from their headquarters on the date of the poll.

The Special Casual Leave will be granted for a maximum period of three days – one day preceding the poll, one day after the poll and the poll day. The leave to be granted may be treated as Special Casual Leave in addition to normal casual leave admissible to them during the calendar year 2022. The written application by the employees will be sufficient to show their enrollment in a particular Gram Panchayat.