Bhubaneswar: The Second Phase polling for the ongoing General Election in the country began in Odisha today with much enthusiasm among voters.
The voting began at 7 am in the morning for Bargarh, Sundergarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal and Aska Lok Sabha seats and Padmapur, Bijepur, Bargarh, Attabira, Bhatli, Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda, Talasara, Sundargarh, Biramitrapur, Raghunathpalli, Rourkela, Rajgangpur, Bonai, Biramahrajpur, Sonepur,Loisingha,Patnagarh,Bolangir,Titlagarh,Kantabanji, Baliguda, Udayagiri, Phulbani,Kantamal,Boudh,Dasapalla,Bhanjanagar,Polsara,Kabisurjyanagar,Khallikote,Aska,Sorada, Sanakhemundi, Hinjili Assembly seats amid tight security.
Women voters in large numbers were seen flooding the polling booths which were seen jam packed with crowd.
However, voting started late at a number of booths in the State including Loisinga, Kurei and Alaglpur in Bolangir district, Atabira of Bargarh district along with at several other places in Sundargarh and Rourkela due to Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) glitches.
Notably, in the second phase election in the State a total of 35 candidates are in the fray for Lok Sabha whereas 244 are in the race for Assembly.
The polling process will continue till 6 pm in the evening in a majority of booths whereas in view of security concerns at 13 booths, voting process will be limited to 4 pm.
A total of 76.93 lakh voters comprising of 39.45 lakh male and 37.47 lakh female voters will exercise their franchise today in Odisha.
Ms Kalinga