Polling underway for Bijepur bypoll in Odisha

The voting for the bypoll for Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha's Bargarh district is underway on Saturday with voters turning out in large numbers.

The voters queued up outside polling booths much before 8 a.m. when the voting was to start officially. Polling would continue till 5 p.m., said an Election Commission official.

About 2,21,144 voters were slated to exercise their franchise which would decide the fate of 13 candidates, including BJD's Rita Sahu, BJP's Ashok Panigrahi and Congress' Pranaya Sahu.

The bypoll necessitated by the death of Congress MLA Subal Sahu in August 2017, is witnessing a triangular fight between the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal.

There are 281 polling booths, out of which 155 have been marked as sensitive or critical.

While the voting was largely peaceful, reports of technical glitches in the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines have come from some booths.

Tight security measures were in place to ensure smooth and peaceful polling. Five platoons of central paramilitary forces, 36 platoons of the state police have been deployed at various strategic points within the constituency.

The results of the by-poll would be declared on February 28.

--IANS

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