Odisha Urban Polls: 65 PC Voter Turn Out Reported In 106 ULBs, BMC Reports 50 PC, Says SEC

Around 65 percent overall voter turnout has been reported from the urban areas of the State while a maximum of 65 percent voters exercised their franchise in Cuttack Municipal Corporation area, followed by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (50 PC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (47 PC) in the elections to the Urban Local Bodies held in Odisha today.

Addressing media following the culmination of voting at 5 pm, State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi said, “These are approximate numbers. The exact voting percentage will be shared tomorrow.”

“Polling was held at 4300 booths in 1825 Wards for 106 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) including 47 municipalities, 59 Notified Area Councils (NACs) and three municipal corporations. Other than very few places, the polling was conducted in a peaceful manner across the State,” Padhi added.

Though voting was delayed at several places due to glitch in EVMs, but the problems were fixed quickly following which the polling was conducted smoothly, he informed.

“Polling for the chairman position has been postponed at Ward number-8 in Nabarangpur’s Umerkote due to some glitches. The re-polling will be held there tomorrow. Similarly, we are also considering to conduct re-poll in Bhadrak’s Dhamnagar NAC and Municipality as voting was reportedly affected due to technical glitches at several places. A decision on the re-polling will be taken after receiving a detailed report from the district administration,” he stated.

“I thank all polling officials, police, district administrations, all political parties and voters for the smooth conduct of the elections,” he said.