States » EastPosted at: Oct 8 2026 12:18PM


INDIA bloc bandh affects normal life across Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Oct 8 (UNI) Normal life was affected across Odisha on Thursday as the Congress-led INDIA bloc enforced a 12-hour statewide bandh, affecting road and rail traffic, public transport, educational institutions and commercial activity.
The shutdown began at 6 am and is scheduled to continue till 6 pm.
Vehicular movement was severely affected as protesters staged road blockades and picketing at several junctions, leaving passengers stranded at major bus stands and railway stations. City bus services went off the road in several places, including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri, while roads wore a deserted look in many areas.
Most of the nearly 3,000 fuel stations across the State also shut operations as a precautionary measure. Banking and transport services were affected, while government offices also witnessed below-normal attendance.
The INDIA bloc claimed the bandh received widespread spontaneous support, while many commercial establishments downed shutters anticipating trouble.
The shutdown was peaceful and incident-free till the latest reports, with no major untoward incident reported. Police maintained a tight vigil and deployed several platoons across the State to prevent any breach of peace, a senior police official said.
The Odisha INDIA bloc called the bandh over a range of issues, including alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and deletion of genuine voters, the Centre’s mining policies, alleged electoral irregularities involving Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and concerns over the State’s education system and textbook printing.
The bloc comprises the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc, NCP (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party, RJD and JMM.
The bandh also comes amid a political realignment within the Opposition. The BJD on Wednesday announced that it would neither support or oppose the shutdown, a day after its leaders shared the stage with the Congress-led INDIA bloc at a New Delhi protest demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
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