Second Phase Of Polling For 5 LS, 35 Assembly Seats Begins In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Polling for five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats in the second phase began in 9,117 booths of Odisha on Thursday morning.

While 35 candidates are in the fray for the five Lok Sabha seats of Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir, Kandhamal and Aska, 244 candidates are contesting for the 28 Assembly seats of Padampur (General), Bijepur (General), Bargarh (General), Attabira (SC), Bhatli (General), Brajarajnagar (General), Jharsuguda (General), Talasara (ST), Sundargarh (ST), Biramitrapur (ST), Raghunathpalli (SC), Rourkela (General), Rajgangpur (ST), Bonai (ST), Biramaharajpur (SC), Sonepur (General), Loisingha (SC), Patnagarh (General), Balangir (General), Titlagarh (General), Kantabanjhi (General), Baliguda (ST), G. Udayagiri (ST), Phulbani (ST), Kantamal (General), Daspalla (SC), Boudh (General), Bhanjanagar (General), Polasara (General), Kabisuryanagar (General), Khallikote (SC), Aska (General), Soroda (General), Sanakhemundi (General) and Hinjili (General).

In the first phase, a total of 60,03,707 voters — 29,72,925 male, 30,30,222 female voters and 560 transgenders — will cast their votes in 7,233 booths.

For the five Lok Sabha seats, 35 candidates, five of them women, are in the fray, while of 244 candidates for 35 Assembly seats, 25 are women.

A total of 76,93,123 voters of which 39,45,025 are male, 37,47,493 female and 605  transgenders, will exercise their franchise.

Out of 9,117 booths, 3,701 have been identified as critical and 739 as hyper-sensitive.

For smooth conduct of polling, the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel have been deployed in the Maoist-prone districts of Balangir and Kandhamal. Besides, CCTV cameras are installed in 623 highly sensitive booths.

Apart from this, 892 micro observers have been engaged to monitor poll proceedings while special arrangements have been made for the physically challenged voters, for whom 16,882 NSS and Scouts and Guides volunteers have been engaged.