Voting Begins for Odisha By-Polls

Bhubaneswar (Reporters Today Bureau): Voting for bypolls to Baleswar Sadar and Tirtol assembly constituencies commenced at 7 AM today amid adherence to Coronavirus guidelines. This is the first election in the state after the pandemic.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure safe polling. The number of voters in each polling booth has been restricted to 1000 for reduction in crowding. The number of booths in Tirtol constituency has been increased from 265 to 373, and in Baleswar Sadar constituency from 198 to 346. Near about 2,37,282 voters in Tirtol and 2,30,297 voters in Baleswar Sadar will be allowed to exercise their franchise between 7 AM and 6 PM. Around 3500 polling personnel, 800 ASHA workers and equal number of volunteers have been engaged for poll duty.

All booths are being sanitised frequently while polling staffers have been screened and only healthy personnel were roped in for election duty. They have been provided with Corona kit comprising mask, face shield, sanitiser, glove, and PPE.

Near about 86 booths in Baleswar Sadar and 155 booths in Tirtol have been identified as critical polling stations. CAPF deployment and provision of webcasting have been made at such booths. A total of 90 platoons of police force, 250 officers and 6 companies of CAPF have been deployed for smooth conduct of the bypolls.