Insight Bureau:  In view of the upcoming general election-2022 in Panchayati Raj institutions in Odisha, the State Election Commission (SEC) held an all-party meeting today.

The meeting has been held under the chairmanship of State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi.

All district collectors of the State attended the meeting via video conferencing.

Discussions of the all-party meeting:

➡️ There will be a central counting at the block level instead of booths.

➡️ Duration of voting likely to increase by 2 Hours.

➡️ There will be a serial number system during the elections to keep a check on duplicate voter IDs.

➡️ Election must be Alcohol-Free.

➡️ There will be increase in poll expenditure limit for Sarpanch & Samiti Sabhya & Zilla Parishad Members.

As per a notification issued by the State Panchayati Raj department, four Zilla Parishad President posts in the districts of Angul, Khordha, Nayagarh and Sonepur have been reserved for OBC candidates.

Similarly, Zilla Parishad President posts in the districts of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Jajpur have been reserved for scheduled caste category.

As per a notification, 15 out of the 30 Zilla Parishad President posts in the State have been reserved for women candidates.