Indus Valley Times

By Mahendra Darjee

Bolangir, May 10: The bypoll held on Wednesday for Odisha’s Jharsuguda assembly seat saw more number of females casting their ballots than male voters.

Of the 1,50,035 voters who exercised their franchise, 77,020 were females. As many as 74,008 male voters exercised their voting rights

Barring stray instances of violence, the overall voting was largely peaceful, informed Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Nikunja Bihari Dhal.

According to Dhal, 68.12 per cent of the 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm. The voting continued till 6 pm and as 3,500 voters were still waiting within the polling station premises, they will be allowed to cast their votes and the final voting percentage will be announced tomorrow, he said.

“We have got information that there were some incidents of clashes outside three polling booths, but it has not affected the voting process,” said Dhal.

According to Dhal, the media reports also helped the authorities to redeploy and mobilise forces as per emergency situation.

All the EVMs will now be kept at the strong room of the Government engineering school amidst tight security arrangements.

Earlier, the administration had made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the Jharsuguda bypoll in 253 booths. A total of 26 Pink booths with all-women polling personnel were also set up which is nearly 10 percent of the total booths for the Jharsuguda bypoll.

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Photograph: Women in Odisha’s Jharsuguda assembly constituency standing in queue to cast their ballots