EC orders fresh polling in 34 booths in 10 Odisha districts

The Election Commission of India has ordered fresh polling in 34 booths in 10 districts including three in Puri district on May 19, an official said Tuesday.

Puri district has been worst hit by the cyclone Fani which made a landfall near Puri town on May 3.

"... The ECI has directed to hold fresh poll on 19.05.2019 (Sunday) in following polling stations for simultaneous General Election to Lok Sabha and Odisha Legislative Assembly....," Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Kumar said in a letter to the district election officers and collectors of 10 districts.

The fresh polls will be held in different assembly segments in the districts of Cuttack, Deogarh, Puri, Angul, Keonjhar, Khurda, Jajpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Jagatsinghpur, he said.

The fresh polling is required in the 34 assembly segments due to certain problems during polling in the third and fourth phase of elections on April 23 and April 29 respectively.

While fresh polling will be held in 12 booths of third phase, repoll has also been ordered on May 19 in 22 other booths where polling was conducted in fourth phase.

Fresh polling in three booths (two in Brahmagiri and one in Satyabadi assembly segments) of Puri district is a challenge as there has been no power due to cyclone Fani.

Both Brahmagiri and Satyabadi have been worst hit blocks of Puri district. These areas are yet to get electricity and other basic facilities, official sources said.