Lok Sabha polls: Voting in Odisha begins peacefully

As many as 92,56,922 voters will decide the electoral fortune of 417 candidates,61 of them for 6 Lok Sabha and 356 for 42 Assembly seats over 10,464 booths,3186 of which have been identified as critical booths.

A five-tier security arrangement has been made to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Tight security arrangement has been made especially in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, considered as most politically sensitive where about 30 platoons of State armed police forces have been deployed along with six platoons of central paramilitary forces to maintain law and order situation and conduct peaceful voting.

Reports reaching here said at several places the glitches in the EVM machines had delayed the voting. At some places, tension prevailed as the voters had to wait for an hour on the long queue following technical snags in the EVM machines.

There has been a lot of enthusiasm among the voters, particularly the young voters who were seen lined up before the polling booths since 7 am to cast their ballots.

The six Lok Sabha seats going for polling today are Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar and the 42 Assembly seats falling under these parliamentary constituencies.

CEO sources said barring some booths in the Maoist prone districts where polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, in the rest places the polling be held from 7 am to 6 pm.

The electoral fortune of some heavyweights in Odisha politics will be sealed in today’s ballots. They are Mr Bhrtuhari Mahatab contesting the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat on BJD ticket against former Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra(BJP), former Odisha Works Secretary and BJD nominee Nalinikanta Pradhan contesting the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, sitting BJD MP Pinaki Mishra locking horn with BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra for Puri Lok Sabha seat.

The Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat will witness a tough fight as former IAS officer Aparajita Sharangi (BJP) is locking horns with former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik(BJD). The Congress had supported the candidature Janardan Pati ( CPM) in the seat. Former Union minister K P Suingdeo(Congress) will try his luck from Dhenkanal Lok Sabha seat.

The Ministers of Naveen Patnaik government whose electoral fortune will be sealed in today’s ballots are School and Mass Education Minister Badrinarayan Patra,(Ghasipura) , Industry and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik(Kamakhyanagar), Commerce and Transport Minister Nrusingha Sahu(Parjanga), Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera (Cuttack Sadar), Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty (Puri), Tourism and culture Affairs Minister Ashok Chandra Panda Ekarma-Bhubaneswar.

In the Assembly election, the fate of Odisha Pradesh Congress Chief Niranjan Patnaik( Ghasipura), former Minister Sanjay Kumar Dasburma (Brahmagiri), former Minister Arun Kumar Sahu (Nayagarha). Senior BJD leader and former Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, (Badamba) sealed in the ballots today.

The fate of two former Odisha Pradesh Congress Chief Jayadeb Jena and Prasad Harichandan will also be sealed in today’s ballots.

Almost all the six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly seats are witnessing multi corner contest but the real battle for ballots will be mostly confined to the three major political parties- the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress.

All the six Lok Sabha seats were held by the ruling BJD in 2014 elections while out of the 42 assembly seats, the BJD had captured as many as 37 seats in the last elections.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived at 09 30 hours to cast his ballot at the Aerodrome colony UP school booth. He was seen standing on the queue and waited for the formalities to cast his ballot in the booth.