Bhubaneswar : The Election Commission of India has made all arrangements for smooth conduct of the third phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State.
Polling will be held in Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 Assembly seats under the LS segments in the third round of voting scheduled for May 25.
Addressing media persons here, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal said 64 MP candidates and 383 MLA candidates remained in fray for the third phase polls.
Of the 64 candidates contesting for the Lok Sabha seats, 55 are men and nine are women. Similarly, out of 383 MLA candidates, 339 are men and as many as 44 are women, Shri Dhal said.
A total of 94.48 lakh voters including 48.29 lakh men, 46.17 lakh women will decide the fate of the candidates. About 21 percent of them are youth voters, he said.
The CEO informed that voting will be held in 10,551 polling stations and there will be about 200 model polling stations. Altogether 1,500 polling stations will be managed by all women polling personnel and another 30 by PWD polling personnel, he said, adding that over 70,000 polling staff will be deployed for election management.
Over 2,000 polling stations have been identified as critical and special security arrangements are being made to ensure peaceful polling in these places.
He further said that 121 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) along with State armed police will be deployed for the third phase of simultaneous elections.
The CEO has urged people to vote in huge numbers in this phase of elections.