Voting underway for 4th phase of Odisha Panchayat Polls in 27 districts

Bhubaneswar: Voting for the 4th phase of Odisha Panchayat Polls began at 7 am in 27 districts of the state today and will continue till 1 pm.

Following incidents of violence in the first three phases of Panchayat polls, the Odisha police has tightened the security for the fourth phase.

The police have deployed 257 platoons of force and 1,473 mobile patrolling parties along with district police officials for the four phase polls.

The fourth phase election is being held at 17,089 booths in 1,254 Gram Panchayats (GPs) under 64 blocks in 27 districts.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has identified 2,563 booths as sensitive booths and tight security measures have been put in place in these booths. Over 51.31 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in this phase.

As many as 667 candidates are in fray for the 163 ZP member seats.

(IANS inputs)