Bhubaneswar: Odisha recorded a voter turnout of 37.64 per cent by 1 pm during fourth and final phase of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on Saturday.
Sources said Balasore saw the highest voter turnout of 40.71%, followed by Mayurbjanj (40.09%), Jagatsinghpur (38.82%), Bhadrak (36.64%), Kendrapada (35.84%) and Jajpur (33.96%).
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said barring some stray incidents, polling remained by and large peaceful so far and over 37.64 per cent of the electorate have exercised their franchise by 1 pm during the final round of the four-phase elections in the state.
Polling began at 7 am at 10,822 booths in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, and Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seats, along with 42 assembly segments under these six parliamentary seats amid tight security.
While 66 Lok Sabha and 394 Assembly candidates are in the fray, over 99.61 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the final phase of elections in the state.Allegations of rigging were reported from several polling booths in Mahanga and Salepur, while minor clashes were alleged to have taken place near Konark and in Kendrapada.
Polling in some booths was reportedly disrupted due to malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and voting became normal after the authorities sorted out the issues. Official sources said that EVM glitches were reported in around seven locations in Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore and the issues were resolved quickly.
Prominent leaders who exercised their franchise during the last phase included former Union Minister Srikant Jena, Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik, BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda and several Ministers.
Apart from Srikant Jena, Pratap Sarangi, Baijayant Panda, some of the key Lok Sabha contestants are BJD stalwarts Sudam Marndi, Lekhasri Samantsinghar, Manjulata Mandal, Rajashree Mallick and Ansuman Mohanty.
In the Assembly election, BJP State President Manmohan Samal, former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik, State Ministers Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pratap Deb and Pritiranjan Ghadai and Speaker of Odisha Assembly Pramila Mallick are in the fray.