May 25th 2024.
The state of Odisha witnessed a significant turnout of 69.56% in the ongoing Parliamentary and Assembly elections, as reported till 11.50 pm on Saturday. This phase of the elections saw polling in six Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 Assembly segments, namely Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Puri.
Thousands of voters exercised their right to vote at 10,515 polling booths across these six parliamentary constituencies. The Chief Electoral Officer, Nikunja Bihari Dhal, shared that there were some minor clashes between different political groups in certain areas during the polling. However, he assured that the commission has not received any requests from political parties for repolling at any booth in the state.
Dhal addressed the media in a press conference and stated that there is video evidence of these incidents and appropriate action will be taken. He also mentioned that 201 ballot units, 214 control units, and 501 VVPATs had to be replaced due to technical malfunctions during the mock polls and actual polling.
Some noteworthy candidates in this phase were Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who contested against BJD's candidate and former Mumbai Police Chief Arup Patnaik in Puri. As the voting process concluded, all eyes are now on the results, which will determine the fate of these candidates and the future of the state.
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