Postal Voting Process Begins For Padampur Assembly Bypoll In Odisha

Padampur: Voting with the use of postal ballots commenced amid tight security on Thursday for the by-election to Odisha’s Padampur Assembly constituency where 284 people have opted for the process.

Teams of officials along with ballot boxes, the required materials and documents have left for different villages in the Assembly segment in Bargarh district to enable the voters who have applied for postal voting to exercise their franchise, officials said.

Apart from taking necessary security measures, arrangements have been made for videography to ensure smooth completion of the postal voting process which is being held for two days till Friday.

A total of nine teams have been formed and the staff have left for varous villages to ensure voting by those who are unable to visit the polling booths to exercise their franchise, said nodal officer for postal voting in the constituency, Manoj Kumar Debata.

Stating that there are 284 people who have opted for postal voting for the December 5 by-election, he said the teams will set up special voting counters for postal voting in different villages.

Proper secrecy will ba maintained during the postal voting process and the ballot papers will be kept in the strongroom after the teams return from differen places, he said.

The postal ballot provision is meant for for senior citizens (80+ age group) and persons with disabilities (PWD) voters.

Padampur Assembly constituency has a total of 2,57,474 voters, including 1,29,497 men, 1, 27, 965 women and 12 members of the transgender community, besides 199 service voters.