Polling underway for Balasore, Tirtol assembly seats in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Polling is underway for the by-elections to Balasore and Tirtol assembly seats in Odisha on Tuesday amidst tight security and strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocol.

Around 4.67 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-elections to Balasore and Tirtol constituencies.

A total of 2,30,297 voters in Balasore Sadar and 2,39,153 voters in Tirtol are expected to exercise their votes in 346 and 373 booths respectively.

The voting that commenced at 7 am will will continue till 6 pm, a senior election official said.

The by-elections were necessitated following the deaths of the BJP’s Balasore MLA Madan Mohan Dutta and the BJD’s Titrol legislator Bishnu Charan Das.

The BJP has fielded Manas Kumar Dutta, the son of Madan Mohan Dutta, in the Balasore seat, while Swarup Das is the ruling BJD candidate and the Congress has fielded Mamata Kundu for the seat.

The BJD has fielded Bijay Shankar Das, the son of Bishnu Charan Das, in the Tirtol seat, while the Congress has nominated Himansu Bhushan Mallick. Rajkishore Behera is the BJP candidate for the constituency.

Around 3,500 polling personnel, 800 ASHA workers, and as many volunteers have been engaged for poll duty to ensure proper sanitation and health screening of voters before their entry into polling stations.

The counting of votes is scheduled to be held on November 10.