- Elections in 4 Lok Sabha & 28 Assembly Constituencies
- More Female Voters than Male Voters
- 36 Females among the 280 candidates
- 53K Polling personnel, 23 Observers and over 100 central Security force
Bhubaneswar: Campaigning for the first phase of polling in Odisha has concluded, with voting scheduled for Monday (May 13), in 28 assembly constituencies, including Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Berhampur Lok Sabha constituencies. Over 62.87 lakh voters are expected to cast their votes at 7,289 established polling stations, along with 14 additional ones. Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on that day.
Chief Electoral Officer Nikunj Bihari Dhal revealed details about the first phase of elections in a press conference. The gender ratio of voters stands at 1030, revealing a higher number of women voters than men. The constituencies to be voted under include 635 third-gender voters, 30,97,527 men and 31,89,060 women voters.
Dhal also shared that Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency is the smallest in area, while Koraput is the largest. However, Koraput has the lowest number of voters, with Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency having the highest. In the Assembly constituency, the Lakhmipur seat has the lowest voter turnout, while Dharmagarh has the highest.
The Koraput Lok Sabha has a total of 1,480,922 registered voters while the Kalahandi Lok Sabha has 1,700,780 voters. In Lakhmipur assembly, there are 173,721 registered voters and in Dharmagarh there are 261,708 voters. Out of all the voters, there are 39,955 voters who are over 85 years old and 1,294 voters who are over 100 years old. Additionally, there are 175,134 individuals who are first-time voters and are aged between 18 to 19 years old, while 31 immigrants and 6,296 service voters.
Of the 7,303 polling stations, 748 are in urban areas, 6,555 are in rural areas and 662 model polling booths have been set up. For security, over 100 companies of armed central police force have been deployed and 53,000 polling personnel and 23 observers have been employed.
“There are 9,155 ballot units, 9,507 control units, and 9,988 VVPATs for the 4 Lok Sabha constituencies. 9,384 ballot units, 9,532 control units, 9,957 VVPAT have been kept for the assembly constituencies. There are 37 candidates for 4 Lok Sabha and 283 candidates for 28 assemblies. 7 women candidates are contesting in the Lok Sabha and 29 in the Assembly,” said Dhal.
Koraput, Kalahandi, and Berhampur Lok Sabha constituencies each have 11 candidates, while Nabarangpur has only 4. Jharigaon, Nabarangpur and Dabugaon assembly seats are contested by at least three candidates each, with as many as 17 candidates in the Berhampur assembly seat. Due to security reasons, the timing of polling in 29 assembly seats has been changed for the first phase of polling.
