35 per cent polling recorded in Odisha till 1 PM

An estimated 35 per cent of the 95.06 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 1 PM during fourth and final phase of simultaneous polling on Monday in six Lok Sabha and 41 assembly constituencies of Odisha, a poll official said.

Polling is not being held in Patkura assembly seat, where voting will be held on May 19 following the death of the BJD candidate.

Long queues were seen outside the polling stations before voting commenced at 7 am. However, technical glitches in EVMs delayed polling in around 60 booths where voting got under way after the snags were rectified, the official said.

Elaborate arrangements are in place to ensure free and fair polling in the six Lok Sabha constituencies of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur and the 41 assembly seats that come under them, he said.

Allegations of rigging attempts in some booths in Kendrapara, Jajpur and Balasore Lok Sabha segments were made by BJP leaders and poll officials were verifying the charge.

Director General of Police (DGP), R P Sharma said polling was in progress peacefully and no untoward incident has so far been reported from anywhere.

Minor glitches were noticed in EVMs at some places and corrective measures were taken promptly to ensure smooth voting, he said.

The electoral fortunes of 388 candidates, including BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda and Odisha PCC president Niranjan Patnaik, will be decided in this phase.

Total 52 contestants, including 12 women, are in the fray in six Lok Sabha seats, while there are 336 candidates, 34 of them women, in the 41 assembly constituencies.

Of the over 95.06 lakh electorate, around 45.98 lakh are women and 595 voters are transgenders. Around 15,450 voters are service electors.

As many as 72,363 personnel have been deployed in 10,792 booths spread across the eight districts, where polling is being held.

Altogether 3,092 polling stations have been identified as critical and central armed police forces deployed to ensure smooth voting, state chief electoral officer Surendra Kumar said.

CCTVs have been installed in 554 polling booths, 595 micro observers appointed and around 1,216 poll vehicles fitted with GPS system have been deployed to track the movement of reserve EVMs, he said