The polling for the by-election to Brajarajnagar assembly constituency in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district commenced at 7 am on Tuesday amid high security.
Voters were seen thronging different polling booths and standing in long queues to exercise their franchise. About 57 per cent polling was recorded till 3 pm.
As per the State Election Commission sources, a total of 2.14 lakh voters will cast their votes in the bypoll. The Election Commission has approved 279 booths for the bypoll out of which 22 are new booths and total 60 booths have been identified as sensitive. A total of 1,228 polling officers have been engaged to carry out the voting process in a free and fair manner.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order situation during the voting. A total of 1,000 security personnel and three companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the by-election.
Webcasting will be done in 50 per cent of the booths . Only women polling officers are conducting the poll process in five pink booths.
A total of 11 candidates including BJD’s Alaka Mohanty , BJP’s Radharani Panda and Congress’ Kishore Chandra Patel are in fray for the high-voltage election. The counting of votes will be conducted on June 3 and the results will be announced the same day.
The bypoll has been necessitated following the untimely demise of sitting MLA Kishore Kumar Mohanty.