Over 80 pc voting recorded in Padampur bypoll in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Over 80 per cent polling was registered in the by-election to Padampur Assembly segment in Bargarh district of Odisha today.

Till now, 80.05 per cent voters have exercised their franchise in the bypoll. Polling is still under way at 71 booths. The final figure of voting will be revealed by the Election Commissioner tomorrow, said Bargarh Collector Monisha Banerjee.

The voting for the by-election began at 7 am and it was scheduled to continue till 4 pm. However, the polling continued beyond the schedule as several thousand voters were in the queue to cast their votes, said a senior official of the district administration.

The voting will decide the fate of 10 candidates. Altogether 2,57,474 voters, including 1,29,474 men and 1,27,965 women, were eligible to cast their votes for the by-election.

Notably, the by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA Bijaya Ranjan Singh Bariha on October 3. Bariha had been elected from Padampur Assembly segment on a BJD ticket in 2019.

The ruling BJD fielded Bijaya Ranjan’s elder daughter Barsha Singh Bariha while the BJP nominated former MLA Pradip Purohit for the by-election.

The Congress party picked its former legislator Satya Bhusan Sahu to contest the bypoll.

Bijaya Ranjan as BJD nominee had defeated Purohit by 5,500 votes from Padampur segment in 2019 elections.

The counting of votes for the by-election will be done on December 8.