The Naveen Patnaik government has issued a draft notification to amend the Odisha Municipal Rules, 1994, to hold “direct election” for the posts of mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and notified area councils and sought public opinion on the issue.

Suggestions and grievances in this regard can be lodged with the principal secretary, housing and urban development, within a month. Currently, corporators and councillors elect the mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of the municipalities and notified area councils, respectively.

According to the draft notification issued on Friday, a candidate can fight for both the councillor and chairman’s post. But he or she will retain only one if elected to both the posts. The authority will place two ballot boxes, one for the election of the chairpersons and other for the councillor, during polling.

The civic polls in the state have been delayed by over two years. The state is yet to amend the existing laws to determine reservations and delimitations of seats.

The tenure of 65 civic bodies, including the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, expired in September 2018, while the tenure of 48 urban local bodies, including the Sambalpur, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar municipal corporations expired in February 2019.