March 31 deadline for ward delimitation
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has set March 31 as the deadline for completion of the delimitation of wards and seat reservation process ahead of holding the elections in the newly constituted urban local bodies (ULBs) and two other municipal corporations, an official said on Tuesday.
The State Election Commission (SEC) has started the process of holding elections in the 28 newly constituted Notified Area Councils (NACs) and seven new municipalities, which were declared by the State government as new ULBs in December 2025.
In a letter on Monday, Director of Municipal Administration Arindam Dakua has directed magistrates-cum-collectors of 18 districts to complete the exercise by March 31, 2026, in line with the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950. Earlier, the SEC, in a letter to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department, had emphasised the need to complete delimitation and reservation of seats to enable timely elections, which must be held within six months of the notifications which is by June 2026.
In the letter to district collectors, the Director of Municipal Administration suggested that the draft notification for ward delimitation and seat reservation, inviting objections and suggestions, should be done on February 12. “The objections can be submitted until February 21, 2026, and provisional notifications will be published on February 26, 2026,” the letter said.
Appeals against the provisional notifications can be filed from February 26 to March 13, the letter said, adding that hearings on appeals will occur between March 16 and 28. It said that the final notifications will be issued by March 31 and copies sent to the SEC, government, and ULBs concerned.
The new ULBs were located in the districts of Angul, Bolangir, Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Boudh, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Kalahandi, Khurda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Sambalpur, and Subarnapur. The SEC has also informed the H&UD for holding similar processes in Sambalpur and Puri municipal corporations.
