Bhubaneswar: The bypoll to the Brajarajnagar Assembly constituency in Jharsuguda district went off peacefully Tuesday with a voter turnout of 69 per cent till 5.00pm, an official said.
“The election took place peacefully. Voting began at 7.00am and continued till 6.00pm. The final voters’ turnout in the bypoll will be known only after polling officials return from the booths,” informed Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), SK Lohani here.
“So far, no untoward incident reported from any booth in the constituency. However, due to some technical glitches, four EVMs was replaced,” Lohani added.
In a village in Lakhanpur block, voters have boycotted the election protesting against the closure of a school.
Five pink booths were set up for where only women polling agents were appointed, officials informed.
To ensure free and fair polling, security arrangements were made adequately in all the booths. More than 1,000 police personnel and three companies of central armed police forces were deployed at different booths to maintain law and order.
A total of 1,228 polling officers were appointed in the booths. Voting was carried out following Covid-19 norms with arrangements of sanitisers and thermal scanning at all polling booths.
The bypoll was necessitated following the untimely demise of BJD lawmaker Kishore Mohanty in December last year. There were 11 candidates in the fray, and the constituency will witness a triangular fight among BJD, BJP and Congress nominees.
The BJD fielded Alaka Mohanty, wife of Kishore as its candidate while the BJP nominated former MLA Radharani Panda. Ex-Assembly speaker Kishore Patel is contesting the by-election on a Congress ticket.
The Assembly seat was with CPI and Congress till 2009 and went to BJP in 2014. The ruling BJD also won the seat in the last elections held in 2019. Now, all eyes are on the by-poll as all three parties have a strong hold in the constituency.
