Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Jun 3:

Bypoll to the vacant post of corporator in ward no- 21 of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) began this morning in Odisha's millennium city.

Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Pic Courtesy: www.dnaindia.com

Casting of votes began from 8 am in the morning and will continue till 5 pm. Six booths have been set up in the ward for 6,604 eligible voters, sources said.

A total of 24 officials, including one presiding officer and a polling officer at each booth, have been roped in to conduct the bypoll, sources added.

Though four candidates are contesting in the poll, the race is expected to be a triangular one between BJD candidate Tulasi Behera, Congress' Gouri Das and BJP's Padmini Behera. The fourth candidate is an independent one.

Police forces have been deployed in the ward to conduct the by-election smoothly without any untoward situation.

Notably, the by-poll was necessitated after corporator-cum-Mayor Anita Behera resigned from both the posts on December 29 last year following a controversy over her name figuring in the NFSA ration card list.