Bhubaneswar: A total of 79.21 per cent of 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-poll held for the Jharsuguda assembly segment, an election official said here Thursday.
The Jharsuguda by-poll was held Wednesday.
The voting percentage (79.21%) this time was more than the previous polling of 75.62 per cent in 2019, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal said.
The CEO said that the voting was by and large peaceful barring a few instances of violence outside polling stations. The voting was smooth in all the 253 polling stations where the webcasting facility was in place.
Meanwhile, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the polling have been sealed and stored in the strong rooms set up on the premises of Jharsuguda Engineering School in Jharsuguda town.
The strong room has three-tier security with personnel of the central paramilitary forces guarding the EVMs in the inner circle, police said, adding that state armed police were also deployed around the strong room. The strong rooms are also under CCTV surveillance.
Jharsuguda, Sub-Collector Kishore Chandra Swain said that there will be a rehearsal of officials to be engaged in the counting procedure. The counting will be held May 13 and and all necessary arrangements have been made, he said.
The by-election was necessitated following the murder of sitting MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das January 29.
Though there are nine candidates in the fray in the bypoll, the contest is mainly between the BJD, BJP and the Congress.
The BJD has fielded Das’s daughter, Deepali, while the BJP has nominated Tankadhar Tripathy. The Congress has fielded Tarun Pandey.
PTI