Bijepur By-Election: Polling Teams Leave for Booths

Bargarh: With two days left for the Bijepur Assembly by-election, the polling teams left for their respective booths on Saturday. They are expected to reach the booths by evening.

Earlier, the polling teams arrived at the RMC office to collect all voting items including EVMs, VVPATs and solar lanterns. Padmapur sub-collector Tanmay Kumar Darwan personally supervised the disbursement of the polling items among the teams.

The teams will be escorted by police from the RMC office to the polling booths.

Bargarh collector Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan said out of a total of 285 booths, 135 have been identified as sensitive. Webcasting will be done at 28 booths, videography at 16 booths and 14 booths will be under CCTV coverage, the collector said, adding that there will be micro observers at 77 booths.

Pradhan said the voters can exercise their franchise by submitting any of the 11 documents. Besides, special arrangements like wheelchairs and ramps have been made at each booth for the physically-challenged voters, who will be assisted by 570 local volunteers.

The collector further said that about 1,400 polling officers and 32 sector officers have been engaged, while 2,321 vehicles have been requisitioned for the election.

A total of 2,32,264 people including 1,20,235 men, 1,12,114 women, 2750 physically challenged and 10 transgenders will exercise their franchise in the by-election.