An estimated six per cent of 92.56 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling Tuesday in six Lok Sabha and 42 assembly constituencies of Odisha, an election official said.
Long queues of voters were seen outside the polling stations, even before the process commenced at 7 am, he said.
All arrangements have been made to ensure hassle-free polling in the six Lok Sabha constituencies Puri, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Keonjhar and Dhenkanal and the 42 assembly seats that come under them, the poll official said.
"Voting is underway in a peaceful and smooth manner. There has been no untoward incident anywhere, though glitches in EVMs delayed the process in around 50 booths. The snags have been rectified," he added.
The electoral fortunes of 417 candidates, including BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik, will be decided in this third phase of the staggered elections.
Of the 92.56 lakh electorate, 44,56,729 are women and 1,163 belong to the third gender.
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A total of 60,000 polling personnel have been engaged to conduct the polls in 10,464 booths of the state, where sporadic violence on Sunday left several injured, including an Election Commission (EC) magistrate and a BJD candidate.
One legislator of the ruling BJD has been arrested on the charge of attacking the EC magistrate.
Among the early voters on Tuesday was Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik, who exercised his franchise in a Bhubaneswar booth.
Talking to reporters after exercising his franchise, Patnaik exuded confidence that his party will post an impressive show in the elections.
Lok Sabha and assembly elections are being held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases.
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