Odisha polls on Apr 10 & 17, more forces sought

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission on Wednesday sounded the poll bugle, announcing a nine-phase election to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies of 28 states and seven union territories between April 7 and May 12. Odisha will have simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in two phases on April 10 and 17.

While 10 parliamentary segments – Aska, Bargarh, Berhampur, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput,Nabarangpur, Sundargarh and Sambalpur will go to the polls on April 10, the remaining 11 constituencies – Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Kendrapara and Puri will witness voting.

Polling will simultaneously be conducted in 70 and 77 Assembly seats on the two scheduled dates respectively.

Counting of votes will take place on May 16.

Meanwhile, in a bid to ensure free and fair elections, Odisha has sought additional security forces from the Centre.

“We have already 89 companies of central para-military force in the state. We have sought additional force to conduct free and fair elections in both the Naxal hit areas and other parts of the state,” Mona Sharma, the CEO, Odisha, told reporters here.

Three lakh government employees besides security personnel would be engaged in the exercise.

All precautionary steps would be taken in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit areas of the state, Sharma said, adding “the polling is being conducted on one date in all the Naxal hit areas of the state and in adjoining areas in other states.”

“We have already identified the sensitive and hyper -sensitive booths in the state and all the district collectors and superintendents of police (SP) have been asked to place their requirements,” Sharma said.
A total of 2,88,80,850 people are eligible to cast their votes in Odisha.

Of the 2,88,80,850 voters, 1,50,38,350 are males, 1,38,41,394 are females and 1106 voters come under others category, Sharma informed, adding that 70 lakh new voters have been added this time of which 10 lakh voters’ age was between 18 years to 19 years.

Sharma said notifications for first phase polling will be issued on March 15.

(With agency inputs)