The final voter turnout for the by-election to the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha's Bargarh district was 79.17 per cent, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S K Lohani said on Tuesday.
Election officials on Monday had said that an estimated 72 per cent of the over 2.32 lakh voters had exercised their franchise in the by-election but the final voting percentage would go up.
The by-election to the seat was necessitated as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had won two seats in the assembly polls held in April this year, resigned from Bijepur and retained his home turf Hinjili in Ganjam district.
The CEO said tight security arrangements have been made for counting of votes which will be held at Padampur on May 24.
He said 14 counting tables will be set and as many as 103 counting personnel will be deployed.
One micro observer will be present at each table and one counting supervisor, a counting assistant, a Class IV employee will be attached to a table. A counting agent appointed by the contesting candidates will be present at each table, he said.
As per the latest instruction of Election Commission of India (ECI), five VVPAT selected at random through the draw of lots will be counted after normal counting is over, the CEO said.
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