Bhubaneswar: First phase voting for four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly segments is going on smoothly at 7303 polling booths since 7 AM.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Nikunja Bihari Dhal said that at least 62.96 percent polling reported till 5 PM.
Speaking to media persons, CEO Shri Dhal said due to the favorable weather condition, many people are seen standing in long queues in front of the booths since morning.
“Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Koraput LS segments always recorded a good percentage of voting in past elections and we are expecting such a high percentage of turnout this time also,” Shri Dhal said.
Mock polls were conducted at 5.30 am, during which, glitches in the EVMs were noticed in some places and those were replaced. A total of 52 ballot units, 58 control units and 43 VVPATs have been replaced. This is less than 1 percent of the total number of booths, he said.
Highest 10 ballot units, 41 control units and 19 VVPATs have been replaced in Kalahandi Lok Sabha segment, he said.
He assured all the voters of the four Lok Sabha constituencies that if there is an EVM fault, it will be fixed within 30 minutes, Dhal added.
The polling is also underway at Maoist affected areas including the Swabhiman Anchal (earlier known as cut-off area), which was treated as a hot-bed for the Naxals.
In 2019 elections, the voters have casted their votes at a BSF camp. But this time, the people are voting at 23 booths near their villages, which is a positive sign, the CEO stated.
ADG (law and order) Sanjay Kumar said the polling is going on smoothly and no law and order situation reported from any constituencies, so far.
Security has been tightened in the sensitive areas. Five layers of security arrangements have been made and mobile patrolling units are also on duty, he informed.