Odisha bypoll: Voter turnout at 70%, hundreds boycott over lack of development

By 6 pm, 71 percent of the 2.3 lakh voters in Balasore Sadar of Balasore district and 69.9 percent of the 2.37 lakh voters in Tirtol assembly constituency had exercised their voting rights.

A little more than 55 percent of the voters in the by-poll to Odisha’s Balasore Sadar and Tirtol assembly constituencies had cast their votes till 3 pm today even as hundreds of voters in both the constituencies boycotted the polls over lack of development.

In 2019 assembly polls, 70.88 percent of the voters in Balasore Sadar constituency had cast their votes. (ANI)

By 6 pm, 71 percent of the 2.3 lakh voters in Balasore Sadar of Balasore district and 69.9 percent of the 2.37 lakh voters in Tirtol assembly constituency had exercised their voting rights.across over 700 polling booths. The number of voters in each polling booth has been restricted to 1,000 to avoid crowding.

In 2019 assembly polls, 70.88 percent of the voters in Balasore Sadar constituency had cast their votes while in Tirtol, it was 73 percent. However, the final voting figures are likely to cross last year’s numbers. Around 3,500 polling personnel, 800 ASHA workers and an equal number of volunteers have been engaged for poll duty.

In Jagatsinghpur district, an elderly woman collapsed on her way to a polling booth during Tirtol by-poll and later died at a hospital. Nagari Sethi of Redhua village was on her way to the polling station when she collapsed following which she was rescued by her family members and taken to the Redhua Community Health Centre for treatment. As the woman’s condition deteriorated, she was then shifted to the Jagatsinghpur District Headquarters Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

In Balasore district, police detained a former zilla parishad member of Mayurbhanj for allegedly distributing money among voters at a tribal area of Balasore town while voting for the by-poll was underway. The former ZP member from BJD was allegedly distributing cash among people along with her supporters when some villagers opposed it. The police later detained her.

In Tirtol, voters of some villages in two panchayats under Tirtol block boycotted the by-poll alleging the government apathy towards local issues such as lack of all-weather roads. Voters of Hajinagar under ward no-19 did not cast their votes. People in four villages under Gopalpur grampanchayat of Tirtol block also refused to be part of the poll process.