Voting begins for Jharsuguda Bypoll; 2.21 lakh voters to decide fate of 9 candidates

Jharsuguda: Voting for bypoll to the Jharsuguda Assembly constituency began today at 7 AM. It will continue till 6 PM.

The polling is being held at 253 booths in 197 locations. As many as 2,21,719 voters consisting of 1,10,619 males, 1,11,037 females and 63 transgenders will exercise their franchise.

A total of 116 booths have been identified as critical ones in 69 locations. Special arrangements have been done for these booths. Webcasting is being conducted at all the 253 booths.

This apart, 26 pink booths, meant exclusively for women voters, have also been set up. As many as 1,012 officers have been deployed with four of them at each booth.

A total of 1,814 police personnel, including 155 police officers, 17 platoons of armed police, 323 constables and 205 home guards, and seven companies of CAPF have been deployed for smooth conduct of the bypoll.

A total of nine candidates are in the fray for the bypoll. The BJD has nominated Naba Das’ daughter Dipali Das as its candidate, the BJP has fielded Tankadhar Tripathy, while the Congress has given ticket to Tarun Pandey, son of three-time Jharsuguda MLA Birendra Chandra Pandey.

The results will be declared on May 13. The bypoll was necessitated after the murder of the then sitting MLA Naba Kishore Das on January 29, this year.