New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, May 1: The Election Commission has approved the lifting of model code of conduct in 11 districts in Odisha to facilitate speedy relief and rescue operation in view of cyclonic storm Fani, a poll official said on Wednesday.
This will expedite the precautionary measures afoot in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur, Rakesh Kumar said in the order issued on Tuesday.
The move came at the end of the day when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had made a request to the Election Commission (EC) in person.
Patnaik was in Delhi to meet the poll panel on Tuesday asking for the lifting of the model code in several coastal districts of the state to facilitate disaster management activities ahead of cyclone Fani which is likely to hit Odisha coast on Friday.
Patnaik had also requested postponement of the Patkura Assembly elections. Polling in Patkura is scheduled on May 19.
Meeting Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, he had suggested postponing the polls to a later date so that communities could “work together in harmony and administration focus on saving precious lives and valuable property”.
‘I am in Delhi to meet the Election Commission of India regarding the by-elections of Patkura Assembly seat, that it should be postponed in case the cyclone hits Odisha’, said Patnaik
The Assembly Polls in Odisha’s Patkura seat which was slated for April 29 now will be conducted on May 19, Election Commission notified the same last week. The assembly elections to Patkura assembly constituency of Odisha was deferred in the wake of the death of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla.
In Odisha, BJD in a run-up to the polls is taking on the aggressive Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress. The Polls in the state is already concluded in the initial four phases.
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