Bhubaneswar: Odisha recorded around 7.69 per cent voter turnout till 9am in six Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 assembly segments where polling is underway in the last phase of simultaneous elections in the state Saturday.
Voting started at 7am in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur parliamentary constituencies along with 42 assembly segments falling under these Lok Sabha seats.
Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer NB Dhal said voting has been peaceful so far in the 10,882 polling booths, barring some reports of EVM glitches, which were mostly resolved or the machines replaced in some cases.
Till 9am, around 7.69 per cent of the over 99.61 lakh voters exercised their franchise, officials said.
A total of 66 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha seats, while 394 nominees are contesting the assembly segments in the fourth and last phase of simultaneous polls in the eastern state.
Key candidates in this phase include Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik, Government Chief Whip Prashant Kumar Mudili, and half-a-dozen Odisha ministers Sudam Marndi, Ashwini Patra, Pritiranjan Ghadai, Atanu S Nayak, Pratap Deb and T K Behera.
Also, four sitting MPs — Pratap Sarangi (Balasore), Manju Lata Mandal (Bhadrak), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur) and Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur) – are in the fray in their respective seats.
