Bhubaneswar: Approximately 62.46 per cent voter turnout recorded till 5 PM in Six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly constituencies where voting is underway from 7 AM this morning, officials said.
Amid tight security, voting started at 7 AM in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur Parliamentary constituencies along with 42 Assembly seats coming under these Lok Sabha segments.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal said voting has been peaceful so far in the 10,882 polling stations, barring some reports of EVM glitches.
Due to technical glitches, 79 ballot units, 106 control units and 233 VVPATs have been replaced and voting has been resumed in all such booths, he said.
Webcasting is being done at 6279 polling booths to ensure smooth conduct of the election, the CEO said.
In this phase of the polling in the state nearly 1 crore will decide the fate of 66 and 394 candidates contesting for Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, respectively,
Around 36,000 security personnel including 126 companies of central armed police force (CAPF) and 86 platoons of Odisha armed police and 20,500 civil police personnel to be deployed for this phase, said DGP Arun Sarangi.
At least 21 per cent of the total booths have been identified as sensitive or critical booths and one to half of section CAPF have been deployed there in all sensitive booths, Sarangi said.