Derabish: The voting for election to Patkura Assembly constituency began amidst tight security at all the 309 polling booths from 7 am.
Polling began after mock polls and by 9 am, it was 12 per cent according to the information shared by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer.
The voters were seen standing in queues waiting for their turn to exercise their franchise.
A total of 2,44,747 voters, including 1,17,306 women, are to exercise their franchise in this poll. A total of 138 booths have been identified as sensitive ones. A total of 10 candidates are in the poll fray with the BJD’s Sabitri Agarwalla, wife of former minister Bed Prakash Agarwalla, the BJP’s Bijoy Mahapatra and Congress’s Jayanta Kumar Mohanty are the prominent ones.
Winning the election has been a prestige issue for both the ruling BJD and BJP parties.
The election to the Patkura assembly constituency was countermanded following the death of BJD’s candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla April 20. Therefore, May 19 was fixed by the election commission for the fresh election but it was again to be postponed for two months due to Cyclone Fani.
Voting was delayed in some booths due to glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), which were corrected with immediacy, a polling official said.
Elaborate arrangements have been made to conduct free and fair election in 309 polling booths.
Security personnel, including Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) jawans, have been deployed in the polling stations to maintain law and order, while 40 CCTV cameras installed at various booths.
Arrangements have also been made for web casting in 31 polling stations and videography in 15 places, while 52 micro observers were pressed into service, the official said.
Counting of votes is scheduled to be held July 24.
PNN
