Odisha registers 37.64% turnout till 1 pm in 6 LS seats, 42 assembly segments

Bhubaneswar: Odisha registered around 37.64 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm in six Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 assembly segments where polling is underway in the last phase of simultaneous elections in the state on Saturday, officials said.

Manoranjan Sahoo, an assistant teacher deputed as a booth level officer at Oleichandanapur in Jajpur district, complained of uneasiness and was taken to a local hospital where he was declared dead, they said.

Similarly, an elderly man also collapsed while standing in a queue in a polling booth in Iswarpur in Nilagiri assembly segment in Balasore district. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead, they said.

Both deaths were suspected to have been caused due to heatstroke, the officials said.

One person was also injured in a group clash outside a polling booth in Gop area in Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seat.

Voting started at 7 am in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur parliamentary constituencies along with 42 assembly segments falling under these Lok Sabha seats.

Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer N B Dhal said voting has been peaceful so far in the 10,882 polling booths, barring some reports of EVM glitches, which were mostly resolved or the machines replaced in some cases.

He said by the ECI has replaced 79 ballot units (BU), 106 control units (CU) and 233 VVPATs. The voting was smooth in all the places.

Till 1 pm, around 37.64 per cent of the over 99.61 lakh voters exercised their franchise, officials said.

Balasore seat recorded the highest turnout of 40.71 per cent, followed by Mayurbhanj (40.09), Jagatsinghpur (38.82), Bhadrak (36.64), Kendrapara (35.84), and Jajpur (33.96), they said.

A total of 66 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha seats, while 394 nominees are contesting the assembly segments in the fourth and last phase of simultaneous polls in the eastern state.

Key candidates in this phase include Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik, Government Chief Whip Prashant Kumar Mudili, and half-a-dozen Odisha ministers Sudam Marndi, Ashwini Patra, Pritiranjan Ghadai, Atanu S Nayak, Pratap Deb and T K Behera.

Also, four sitting MPs -- Pratap Sarangi (Balasore), Manju Lata Mandal (Bhadrak), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur) and Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur) – are in the fray in their respective seats.