Around 71% voter turnout in 2nd phase of Odisha Panchayat Polls

Bhubaneswar: The voter turnout during the second phase of the Odisha Panchayat Polls held today was recorded at around 71%, the State Election Commission informed.

A total of 62.10 lakh voters were to cast their votes in this phase. Voting took place at 20,436 polling booths in 1,514 panchayats of 68 blocks in the state, today.

The polling process began at 7 am and concluded at 1 pm.

Voters were seen standing in queues before polling booths to exercise their franchise.

The security was tightened in the second phase as violence incidents were reported from 25 booths during the first phase of polling.

A total of 240 platoons of police force, 1753 mobile patrolling parties along with district police officers were deployed all over the state for smooth conduct of the second phase of elections.