Bhubaneswar: The fate of nine candidates in fray has been sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the Jharsuguda bypoll that passed peacefully amid tightened security.
The constituency recorded 75.60% voter turnout till 7 pm. The Office of the State Chief Electoral Officer informed that polling in 5 booths out of total 253 booths continued even after 7 pm.
More women cast votes than their male counterparts, CEO Nikunja Bihari Dhal said. As many as 26 pink booths had been set up. The security has been tightened at 116 high sensitive booths. Web casting was done at all booths for the time, the CEO informed.
In the general election of 2019, the total voter turnout in Jharsuguda assembly election was 78.92%.
The polling was largely peaceful with no such untoward incident.
Long queues were seen in front of several polling stations even before the voting process started at 7 a.m.
There is no report of any untoward incident. Voting is underway peacefully amid tight security arrangements in all 253 polling stations, CEO said.
Over 2.21 lakh voters, including 63 members of the transgender community, were eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-poll.
“There has been adequate deployment of personnel including paramilitary jawans in critical booths. Drones are being used to monitor the voting process in many booths,” said Jharsuguda S. P. Aparmar Smit Parshottamdas.
The by-election assumes significance as it will be the last poll before the 2024 general elections.
More than 1,000 officials and a huge police contingent along with seven companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the by-election, the official said.
Collector cum District Election Officer Aboli Sunil Naravane said this was the first time that webcasting was done in all 253 polling stations.
She said adequate arrangements were made to provide respite to voters from the scorching heat.
Both BJD candidate Deepali Das and BJP nominee Tankadhar Tripathy cast their votes early in the morning.
The by-election was necessitated following the murder of sitting MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29, 2023.
Though nine candidates are in the fray, the contest is mainly between the BJD, BJP and Congress.
The BJD has fielded Das’s daughter Deepali Das, while the BJP has nominated Tankadhar Tripathy. The Congress has fielded Tarun Pandey, the son of late MLA Biren Pandey. All three candidates are debutant contestants.
Votes will be counted on May 13.
