Bhubaneswar: Voting is underway for by-elections to two assembly seats-Tirtol and Balasore. These two constituencies recorded 7.58 and 12.11 per cent voter turnouts till 9am respectively.
State Chief Electoral Officer Sushil Kumar Lohani shared this information at a presser held here.
The polling began at 7 am and voters are slowing turning up at the booths to cast their votes.
Since the polling is going on amidst COVID-19 fear, adequate arrangements have been made to ensure a COVID-19-free polling. Voters are seen coming to the booths wearing masks and they are maintaining social distancing while waiting for their turn.
All the polling personnel, ASHA activists and volunteers have been allowed after screening and provided with COVID-19 kits including face masks, face shields, sanitiser, gloves and PPEs.
Similarly, for the safety of voters, all the booths are being sanitised frequently. In order to avoid crowd at the booths, the number of voters has been limited to 1000 and resultantly the number of booths have been increased.
In Balasore Sadar and Tirtol, the numbers of booths have been increased from 198 to 346 and 265 to 373 respectively.
PNN