Bhubaneswar : The polling for the by election to Pipili Assembly constituency began at 0600 hrs this morning amid tight security strictly adhering to Covid protocols.
The voting will continue till 07 PM today .
The by election was necessitated following the death of sitting BJD MLA Pradip Maharathy on October 4, last year.
The by-election to the constituency was postponed thrice earlier due to various reasons.
Voters were seen standing in long ques in front of the booths this morning to cast their votes.
As many as 2,29,998 voters including 1.10 lakh women are scheduled to exercise their franchise in 348 booths to decide the fate of ten candidates contesting the by election.
Out of the 348 booths, 201 booths have been declared as sensitive
Arrangements have been made for webcasting in 175 booths and videographing in 12 booths for the smooth conduct of the by election.
As many as 25 platoons of police force along with 3 companies of CAPF supervised by 35 senior officers in the rank of SP/Additional SP/DSP/Inspector were deployed In addition to this, 163 SIs/DSIs/Dy Subedars/ASIs/Home Guards and 736 Havildars/Constables/APRs/Home Guards for the smooth conduct of the poll.
Around 2200 polling personnel were deployed for the smooth conduct of the by-elections.following all covid protocols.
Use of masks, social distancing , gloves, thermal scanning has been made compulsory.
Till the filing of the story the polling was peaceful and no reports of any untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
As many as ten candidates candidates including three independents are in the fray. Though ten candidates are in the fray but the election will be fought mainly among the candidates of three political parties== BJD, BJP and the Congress.
While the ruling BJD has fielded Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the son of former MLA late Pradeep Maharathy, as its candidate, Ashrit Pattanayak is the BJP nominee and Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra the Congress candidate in the byelection.
In addition to the BJP, Congress, and BJD, the three main political parties, CPIML, RPI, Akhil Bharathiya Hindu Mahasabha and Kalinga sent have also fielded their candidates.
The counting of votes votes will be done on October 3 next.
