Bhubaneswar: Odisha recorded a voter turnout of around 70% in the third-round elections to six Lok Sabha and 42 Vidhan Sabha seats till last updated at 11.30 pm on Saturday.
Puri LS seat saw the highest 73.81% polling followed by Dhenkanal at 73.69%, Sambalpur at 73.31% and Kenojhar at 71.93%. Cuttack and Bhubaneswar LS seats recorded a voter turnout of 65.43% and 60.04%, respectively. The overall polling in these six seats in 2019 elections was 71.36%.
Among the Assembly constituencies, Athamalik recorded the highest turnout of 85.42% followed by Chhendipada (83.27%), Pallahara (82.14%), Kuchinda (81.38%), Khandapada (79.80%) and Angul (78.40%). Bhubaneswar-North (51%), Bhubaneswar-Central (51.19%), Barabati-Cuttack (55.17%), Bhubaneswar-Ekamra (55.60%), and Choudwar-Cuttack (56.46%) saw the lowest polling.
The polling, which began at 7 am, was mostly peaceful amid some isolated confrontations and reports of glitches in the EVMs. BJP MP candidate Sambit Patra alleged that polling was delayed by 2 hours at several booths in Puri town due to EM snag. Tension also gripped a polling station in Brahmagiri due to alleged EVM malfunction. Some people also complained about their names missing from the voters’ list. BJP MLA candidate for Khurda Prashant Jagdev was also arrested for allegedly damaging an EVM at a booth in Bolagarh under Begunia Assembly seat.
Four persons each from BJP and BJD were also allegedly injured in a group clash in Athagarh Assembly seat. Three persons, including a polling personnel and a polling agent, also reportedly died during the polling.