75.60% Voter Turnout In Jharsuguda Assembly Bypoll In Odisha; Polling Peaceful

Bhubaneswar: An estimated 75.60 per cent of the over 2.2 lakh voters exercised their franchise for the bye-election to Jharsuguda Assembly constituency in Odisha on Wednesday.

Polling which commenced at 7 am amid tight security arrangements remained peaceful without any untoward incident in any part of the Assembly constituency, officials said.

According to the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office, voter turnout touched 75.60 per cent by 7 pm and voting was still continuing in five booths. All the voters who were in queue at the booths by 6 pm were allowed to exercise their democratic rights.

CEO Nikunja Bihari Dhal told reporters that the bypoll was peaceful and there was no violation of procedure reported from any booth during the poll. “We have got excellent response from the voters,” he said.

Stating that voting percentage is likely to go up, Dhal said a large number of voters were still waiting at several polling booths to exercise their democratic rights. The final figure will be conveyed tomorrow morning, the CEO said.

In 2019 elections, voter turnout was 78.92 per cent in Jharsuguda Assembly constituency.

Till 5 pm, the voter turnout was 68.12 per cent and 1.51 lakh voters, including 77,020 women, had exercised their democratic rights.

Though nine candidates are in the fray, the contest is mainly between three debutants with the ruling BJD as well as the Congress and BJP having fielded first-time candidates – Deepali Das, daughter of sitting MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, Tarun Pandey, the son of late MLA Biren Pandey, and Tankadhar Tripathy respectively.

A total of 2.2 lakh electors, including 63 members of the transgender community,  were eligible to cast their votes in 253 booths across the constituency to decide the fate of nine candidates in the fray.

More than 1,000 officials and a huge police contingent along with seven companies of central paramilitary forces were deployed for the by-election. In a first, webcasting arranged in all the 253 booths. CCTV cameras and deployment of micro-observers and central forces were ensured in 106 booths identified as critical, besides 30 as demanded by various political parties. Drones were also used by the police at sensitive and cluster booths to monitor law and order situation.

Votes will be counted on May 13. Tight security arrangements have been made for the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and counting of votes.

The bypoll gains significance as could be the the last election before the twins polls in 2024 and a win here could give a psychological edge to the victorious party.

The BJD has won six of the seven bypolls – Bijepur (2019), Tirtol and Balasore (November 2020), Pipili (September 2021), Brajarajnagar (June 2022) and Padampur (December 2022), while BJP managed to retain Dhamnagar in November 2022.