Bhubaneswar: Voting in the four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly constituencies in Odisha began at 7.00 am in the first phase of polls in the state on Monday. The four Lok Sabha constituencies are Berhampur, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, and Koraput and the 28 Assembly constituencies.
A total of 280 candidates are trying their luck in the first phase of elections in Odisha today.
Altogether 62,87,222 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase of elections in Odisha. Of these, 30,97,527 are male voters and 31,89,060 are female voters who are exercising their franchise at 7,303 booths in the state. Several of these booths have been declared sensitive as they fall in the Maoist-infested areas of the state.
The Koraput parliamentary constituency has the least number of voters while Kalahandi has the highest number of voters. Lakshmipur Assembly constituency has the least and Dharmagarh Assembly constituency has the highest number of voters. As many as 3,636 voters in the state have exercised their franchise at home before.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made necessary arrangements in all these booths, including beefing up security arrangements. A total of 17,000 police personnel have been deployed at the booths for smooth and incident-free polling. Acting on the directions of the ECI, the administration has deployed 210 flying squads and 195 static surveillance teams. All the check posts bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are under CCTV surveillance.
After the completion of the election, the EVMs will be kept in 15 strong rooms under round-the-clock security.
