62.71 pc polling for Kandhamal LS bypoll

Around 62.71 per cent of the electorate today cast their votes in the bye-election to Odisha's communally sensitive Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency amid boycott by voters in seven polling stations.
"Around 62.71 per cent turn out of voters was recorded in the bye-election to Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat. Polling remained peaceful, smooth and incident free," Joint Chief Electoral Officer (JCEO) J P Das said.
Though no untoward incident was reported from any place during the bye-election in the Maoist-hit constituency, voters boycotted voting in seven polling stations voicing their resentment over local problems, he said.
While voting was boycotted by the people in five polling stations in Daspalla assembly segment, voters refrained from exercising their franchise in two polling stations in Boudh area, Das said.

Amid tight security, polling remained brisk in some parts of the Maoist-hit constituency where an estimated 11.4 lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise.
Bye-election in the constituency, spread over Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Boudh districts, was necessitated due to death of BJD MP Hemendra Chandra Singh on September 5.

"All the required arrangements had been made for conducting a free and fair polling," Kandhamal District Magistrate N Thirumala Nayak, who is also the returning officer, said.
The fate of seven candidates including Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh (BJD), Abhimanyu Behera (Cong) and Rudra Madhav Ray (BJP) were sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Pratyusha's late husband had won the polls from Kandhamal in May with a margin of 1.81 lakh votes.

Voting was held in 1,497 polling stations spread over seven assembly segments - Phulbani, G Udaygiri, Baliguda, Boudh, Kantamal, Bhanjanagar and Daspalla. Counting of votes would be held on October 19.
Of the 1,497 polling booths, 530 were identified as sensitive where central paramilitary forces like CRPF and BSF jawans had been deployed to ensure free and fair polling, Nayak said.