ULB polls witness 68% voter turnout

There was an overall voter turnout of 68% in the polls though the figure for the Naxal infested areas was lower at 60%

The polling for 66 urban local bodies (ULBs) in the state including the Berhampur Municipal Corporation passed off peacefully amid tight security barring few stray incidents and glitches in electronic voting machines (EVMs) that led to delay in voting.

There was an overall voter turnout of 68 per cent in the polls though the figure for the Naxal infested areas was lower at 60 per cent.

Glitches in EVMs were observed in a few polling booths in Berhampur, Dhenkanal and Balasore.

Counting of votes for these 66 ULBs is scheduled for Friday. A total of 3,893 candidates are in the fray for these ULBs.

The outcome of the urban local bodies’ election holds significance for all political parties to gouge their strength ahead of assembly polls in 2014.

The voting in two booths of ward no 20 of Vyasa Nagar municipality has been put off to tomorrow after some printing errors were noticed in the ballot paper.

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place especially in areas hit by Naxal insurgency and no major untoward incident was reported, said an official.

Out of 1,968 polling booths, 561 booths were identified as sensitive while 108 booths were placed in the hyper sensitive category. As many as 11 platoons of Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) and Special Operations Group (SOG) jawans were deployed in the 108 hyper sensitive booths.

The outcome of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation is keenly watched with the Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik and other BJD heavyweights undertaking pre-poll campaign. A total of 143 candidates are in the race for 43 wards of the corporation.

The BJD is optimistic of garnering majority seats in Berhampur urban polls.

“The trend is in favour of the BJD. We are confident of winning 80 per cent of the seats in Berhampur,” said BJD vice president and minister for revenue & disaster management S N Patro.

Veteran Congress leader Chandrasekhar Sahu, however expected the people to vote for a change.

“It is clear from the reaction of the people who have turned up at the polling booths that they want a change. We are hopeful that the people will vote for the Congress,” said Sahu.

The State Election Commission (SEC) had taken a series of measures to ensure free and fair poll in all the ULBs. Special squads had been deployed to prevent violation of model code of conduct.

Election in 25 ULBs spread across nine districts of western Odisha has been paralysed in the wake of an unrelenting agitation demanding a permanent bench of the Odisha High Court in the region.