Odisha Witnesses 70% Voter Turnout in Third-Round Elections

Bhubaneswar: In the third-round elections for six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly seats in Odisha, voter turnout reached approximately 70% by 11:30 PM on Saturday.

The Puri Lok Sabha seat reported the highest turnout at 73.81%, closely followed by Dhenkanal (73.69%), Sambalpur (73.31%), and Keonjhar (71.93%). Meanwhile, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar recorded lower turnouts of 65.43% and 60.04%, respectively. The overall turnout in these six seats during the 2019 elections was 71.36%.

Among the Assembly constituencies, Athamalik saw the highest voter turnout at 85.42%, followed by Chhendipada (83.27%), Pallahara (82.14%), Kuchinda (81.38%), Khandapada (79.80%), and Angul (78.40%). The constituencies with the lowest turnouts included Bhubaneswar-North (51%), Bhubaneswar-Central (51.19%), Barabati-Cuttack (55.17%), Bhubaneswar-Ekamra (55.60%), and Choudwar-Cuttack (56.46%).

Polling commenced at 7 AM and remained largely peaceful despite isolated incidents.

BJP MP candidate Sambit Patra reported a two-hour delay in Puri town due to EVM issues, while tension arose in Brahmagiri over alleged EVM malfunctions. Some voters also reported missing names from the voters’ list. BJP MLA candidate Prasanta Jagadev was arrested for allegedly damaging an EVM in Bolagarh under the Begunia Assembly seat.

Violence was reported in Athagarh, where four individuals each from the BJP and BJD were injured in a clash. Additionally, three individuals, including polling personnel and a polling agent, reportedly died during the voting process.