Bhubaneswar: Around 52.91 per cent of the over 62.87 lakh voters have exercised their franchise till 3pm in four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly constituencies in Odisha Monday, officials said.
Voting started at 7am in 7,303 polling stations in Berhampur, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi parliamentary constituencies along with 28 Assembly segments within the jurisdiction of these Lok Sabha seats.
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are being held simultaneously in Odisha.
Till 3pm, 52.91cent voters have cast their votes, officials said, adding that the highest voter turnout was recorded in tribal-dominated Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat at 58 per cent followed by Nabarangpur with 55.69 per cent turnout, Koraput (53.08 per cent) and Berhampur (44.65per cent).
Police said there was no report of any untoward incident in any polling booth.
Chief Electoral Officer NK Dhal said that EVM glitches were found in several places and they were replaced within 30 minutes. He said as many as 65 Ballot Units (BU), 83 Control Units (CU) and 110 VVPATs were replaced so far and most of the replacements were done during the mock poll exercise before the start of real voting at 7am.
Dhal said there was a lot of enthusiasm among people. There was smooth voting in Swabhiman Anchal, earlier known as cut-off area, once a Maoist hotbed in Malkangiri district.
“People of Kotia are participating in the polls very enthusiastically,” Dhal said.
He said the model booths, women booths and the PWD booths were also operating smoothly.
The CEO said the Election Commission has received reports of poll boycott from places over local issues and he has appealed to people to exercise their franchise.
Koraput Lok Sabha seat Congress candidate Saptagiri Ulaka, BJP candidate from Berhampur LS seat Pradeep Panigrahy, BJP’s Kalahandi LS candidate Malavika Keshari Deo, BJD Nabarangpur LS candidate Pradeep Majhi, BJP candidate Balabhadra Majhi, Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das and other senior leaders were among the early voters.
A report from Ganjam district said that at least two persons were injured in a clash between rival groups during polling in Chikiti Assembly segment.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has suspended two polling officials for dereliction of duty. One polling official from Narla Assembly constituency in Kalahandi district and another polling official from Chikiti Assembly segment in Ganjam district have been suspended for dereliction of duty, the CEO said.
PTI
