Bhubaneswar, May 21 -- The Odisha State Election Commission has cancelled its earlier notification for conducting Panchayat by-elections on June 23, citing the early onset of the monsoon.
The original notification, issued on Wednesday, called for by-elections to fill 1,043 vacant Ward Member seats, 43 vacant Sarpanch seats, 40 Panchayat Samiti Member seats, and 5 Zilla Parishad Member seats.
The Commission had invoked its authority under Article 243K of the Constitution of India, Section 13(2) of the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, 1964, and Rule 3-B(4) of the Odisha Gram Panchayat Election Rules, 1965, to announce the schedule for the by-elections. It had also released the timetable for filing nominations, scrutiny, withdrawal of nominations,...