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Nine booths across four assembly constituencies, where repolling was held today after disruption in the voting process on April 17, has witnessed whopping 80 per cent voter turnout.
The repolling was ordered following allegations of rigging and other irregularities in these booths.
The Election Commission had ordered repolling in six booths of the Niali assembly constituency in Cuttack district, one each in Ghasipura and Telkoi assembly constituency in Keonjhar district and one booth at Jenabhali in Aul assembly constituency of Kendrapara district. Security personnel were deployed in strength at these booths today to conduct the poll peacefully.
“The average voter turnout stood at 80 per cent. Highest polling was recorded at Ghasipura constituency with 88 per cent turnout and the lowest turnout was recorded at Pokharigaon booth (71 per cent) under Niali constituency,” said an official of the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
Earlier, repolling was conducted at 22 polling stations in southern parts of Odisha, which had gone to polls in the first phase of voting in the state on April 17. It may be noted that the state has closed its two-phase simultaneous polling for Lok Sabha and assembly seats on April 17 clocking an average turnout of 74 per cent in the two phases, a rise of almost nine per cent over 65.3 per cent recorded in the 2009 elections.
In the first phase of polling on April 10 that covered the state’s southern and western regions, voter turnout was 75 per cent. Similarly, 73.36 percent of eligible voters had turned up to cast their votes in the first phase of polls comprising the coastal belt of the state.
