Steady voter turnout in Odisha as polling remains peaceful; 23.28% cast ballots till 11 am

Voter turnout of 23.28% recorded by 11 am in four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly constituencies in Odisha, with peaceful polling underway. The highest turnout of 25.38% was in Kalahandi, followed by Koraput (24.43%), Nabarangpur (24.3%), and Berhampur (18.99%). EVM glitches were reported but promptly rectified. Model booths and PWD booths were functional. Poll boycott reports were received, but the CEO urged voters to participate. Key leaders, including candidates and party officials, cast their votes early.

Around 23.28 per cent voter turnout has been recorded in four Lok Sabha constituencies and 28 Assembly segments in Odisha till 11 am on Monday, officials said.

Long queues of people were seen in front of all the 7,303 booths where peaceful polling is underway, they said.

Voting started at 7 am in Berhampur, Koraput, Nabarangpur, and Kalahandi parliamentary constituencies along with 28 assembly segments within the jurisdiction of these Lok Sabha seats.

Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are being held simultaneously in Odisha.

Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer N B Dhal said that the voting was underway in all the 7,303 polling stations across peacefully in four Parliamentary Constituencies and 28 assembly segments under their jurisdiction with some reports of EVM glitches.

Till 11 am around 23.28 per cent of the 62.87 lakh voters have exercised their franchise, officials said, adding that the highest voter turnout was recorded in tribal-dominated Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat at 25.38 per cent followed by Koraput (24.43 per cent), Nabarangpur (24.3 per cent) and Berhampur (18.99 per cent)..

Police said there was no report of any untoward incident in any polling booth.

The CEO said that EVM glitches were found in several places and they were replaced within 30 minutes. He said as many as 65 Ballot Units (BU), 83 Control Units (CU) and 110 VVPATs were replaced so far and most of the replacements were done during the mock poll exercise before starting of real voting at 7 am.

Dhal said there was a lot of enthusiasm among the people. There was smooth voting in Swabhiman Anchal, earlier known as cut-off area, once a Maoist hotbed in Malkangiri district.

He said people in large numbers also cast their votes in the Kotia area under the Pottangi assembly segment under Koraput Lok sabha seat. He said the model booths, women booths and the PWD booths were also operating smoothly..

The CEO said the Election Commission has received reports of poll boycott from places over local issues and he has appealed to people to exercise their franchise.

Koraput Lok Sabha seat Congress candidate Saptagiri Ulaka, BJP candidate from Berhampur LS seat Pradeep Panigrahy, BJP's Kalahandi LS candidate Malavika Keshari Deo, BJD Nabarangpur LS candidate Pradeep Majhi, BJP candidate Balabhadra Majhi, Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das and other senior leaders were among the early voters.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)