Bhubaneswar: About 62.87 lakh voters will be exercising their franchise during the first phase of the polls in Odisha on May 13, informed Nikunja Bihari Dhal, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha on Saturday.
Addressing a presser, Dhal informed, “The number of female voters is more than the male voters this time. The voter list is inclusive it has good representation of youth, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), and also elderly citizens”.
Home voting has been completed in the four parliamentary constituencies of Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, and Koraput that are going to the polls in this phase, he said.
The CEO has said that sufficient care has been taken to ensure that the polling parties and police and security personnel are safe.
“As many as 104 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) which also include the Armed Police forces of other states. So we are confident that the polling will be conducted peacefully and smoothly. We have made all arrangements to provide a very pleasant experience to all the voters. Out of 104 companies of CAPF deployed 60 are in-situ companies and 45 have been inducted directly. CRPF 31 companies, BSF 39 companies, CISF 4 companies, ITBP 1 company and other state armed police 27 companies,” Dhal informed.
He said so far more than 3200 voters of 85+years-old senior citizens and PwDs have voted from their homes. He added that voter facilitation centres have been set up for voting by polling personnel.
“More than 23,000 voters on election duty have exercised their franchise through postal ballots at the voter facilitation centres. As many as 6296 postal ballots have been despatched electronically for the service voters in areas which have LWE history,” he added.
