Urban local body elections in Odisha: 50% voter turnout recorded in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: During the elections to Urban Local Bodies in Odisha today, 50% polling has been recorded in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area. The State Election Commission (SEC) office provided the voter turnout percentage on basis of preliminary data.

The SEC office added 65% polling has been recorded in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) area whereas 47% voter turnout was recorded in the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) area. In 106 urban local bodies including 47 municipalities, more than 65% voters cast their votes, it stated.

More than 40.55 lakh voters are residing in the 106 urban local bodies and three municipal corporations.

The SEC office further stated the urban local body elections ended peacefully barring few cases of disturbance.

It stated due to wrong ballot papers the poll to the chairperson post in Ward number 8 of Umerkote municipality of Nabarangpur district has been deferred. The polling will be done tomorrow.

The ULB polls were held for 1,825 wards in 47 municipalities, 59 NACs and three municipal corporations today. A total of 4,360 polling booths were set up.

The polling began today at 8 AM today and continued till 5 PM.

The SEC office informed the polling at some places started with a delay due to initial glitches in EVMs. But the issues were resolved and the polling ended at all the polling booths smoothly, it said in a statement.