By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The by-election to the Padampur Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district recorded 80 percent voter turnout till 6 pm.
Voting for the bye-poll conducted at 319 polling stations under tight security.Over 2.57 lakh voters, including 12 members of the transgender community, exercised their franchise at 319 booths till 4 pm.
79 polling booths were identified as ‘critical’. Webcasting of the polling process were planned in 120 booths, while 66 under CCTV surveillance. There were 15 model booths and 6 pink ones, which have women security personnel and polling officials.
The ruling BJD fielded Barsha Singh Bariha, the daughter of Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha whose death necessitated the by-poll, while the opposition BJP’s nominee is the former MLA and party’s Krushak Morcha president Pradip Purohit. Congress’ candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu had won the seat three times earlier.
