Over 61 % of 94.4 lakh voters cast their votes in Odisha

Six Lok Sabha and 42 assembly constituencies went to polls in Odisha on Saturday. The soaring humidity led to a 10 % drop in voting percentage compared to 2019 polls

Published on: May 26, 2024, 14:02:09 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Amid stray incidents of violence, 61.71 % of the 94.48 lakh voters in Odisha cast their vote in six Lok Sabha and 42 assembly constituencies of the state on Saturday.

Voters wait in queues to cast their vote for the elections in Odisha on Saturday. (CEOodisha - X)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Khordha MLA candidate Prasanta Jagadev was detained by police for allegedly vandalising an electronic voting machine (EVM) and beating a presiding officer. Jagadev allegedly barged into polling booth no. 114 of Kaunriapatna near Rajsunakhala under Bolagarh-Begunia assembly constituency while voting was underway. Odisha chief electoral officer Nikunja Dhal said a first information report (FIR) has been registered against Jagdev.

Dhal said three persons, including a presiding officer, a voter and a polling agent of the BJP died during polling. A lady Polling officer identified as Sujata Mitra posted at the polling booth number 114 of Hadibandhu school in Cuttack fell sick during duty hour. She was rushed to the SCB Medical College and Hospital where she succumbed to her illness.

Sukadeb Patnaik, engaged as the polling agent of the BJP at Booth No.136 at Bahalunda village under Hindol Assembly constituency of Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency fell ill when the voting was underway. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

Kumudini Dalei of Patharpunji village under Baghuapalli panchayat in Bhapur block of Nayagarh district succumbed to heatstroke while she was waiting in a queue to vote. Dalei started sweating and then collapsed. She was immediately rushed to Khandapada hospital, but doctors declared her dead.

The soaring humidity led to a 10 % drop in voting percentage compared to 2019 in the six Lok Sabha and 42 assembly constituencies that went to polls on Saturday. The six Lok Sabha constituencies are Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. In the 2019 election, 71.82 % of the voters in these six constituencies had voted.

In the sixth phase of polling, 64 candidates in Lok Sabha and 383 candidates in Assembly were in the fray.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan is pitted against BJD’s Pranab Prakash Das in Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat. Pradhan is contesting Lok Sabha election for the first time after he lost the Assembly election from Pallahara in 2009. After that he was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar and then Madhya Pradesh.

In Bhubaneswar, former bureaucrat and BJP’s national spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi is seeking re-election as she is in a close contest against Manmath Routray, a former commercial pilot.

In Puri, BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra is fighting former commissioner of Mumbai Police, Arup Patnaik.

Around 35,000 personnel including 121 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CRPF) were deployed to ensure law and order for the polls on Saturday.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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