Final Count: Odisha Records 74.45% Voter Turnout In 3rd Round Of Polling; Sambalpur Highest

Bhubaneswar: Odisha recoded a voter turnout of more than 74% in the third-round elections to six Lok Sabha and 42 Vidhan Sabha seats held on Saturday.

The office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Sunday evening released the final voter turnout during the third round of polling in the state. The turnout was tabulated excluding the postal ballots.

The six Parliamentary seats registered a significant increase in the voter turnout this time. As per the final list of the CEO, the overall polling in these seats was 74.45% against 71.36% in 2019 elections.

Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat registered the highest voter turnout of 79.50% in this round of polling. It was followed by Keonjhar with 78.97%, Dhenkanal 78.01%, Cuttack 71.20%, Puri at 75.43% and Bhubaneswar with 64.49%.

The polling during the third round was by and large peaceful with stray incidents of violence reported from some parts of the state.

The polling was delayed by 2 hours at several booths in Puri town due to EVM snag. Tension also gripped a polling station in Brahmagiri due to alleged EVM malfunction. Some people also complained about their names missing from the voters’ list.

BJP MLA candidate for Khurda Prashant Jagdev was arrested for allegedly damaging an EVM at a booth in Bolagarh under Begunia Assembly seat while the polling was going on.