Bhubaneswar: Polling was delayed in a few booths due to EVM glitch in Odisha in a few places on Saturday said reliable reports. During the third phase elections on Saturday voting was delayed because of faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
There was widespread discontentment among voters due to EVM glitch at various places in Odisha, said reports. The voting for the third phase elections in Odisha has already begun for six Lok Sabha seats and 42 assembly seats.
EVMs are not working at Cuttack Barbati booth no.24, Bidansi booth no.6, Banki Harirajpur booth no.148 and Banki booth no.96. It has been reported that the EVM has been disabled in Booth No. 122 of Naples in Bhubaneswar, Booth No. 73 in Niladri Bihar, Booth No. 4 in Khurda Municipality, and Booth No. 159 in Panpada.
Similarly, EVMs are not working in booths 13, 49 and 50 of Krishnaprasad in Puri district, similarly, EVMs are also non-functional in booth 191 of Puri Satyabadi. , there is a problem in Dhenkanal border booth number 157 booth. Similarly, Andpur Hatadihi Booth No. 139 and Deogarh Booth No. 18, and 2 booths of Brahmagiri Constituency, Angul Booth No. 35, Keonjhar Badpadna Booth No. 274 have also been delayed due to EVM machines not working.
A total of 94.48 lakh voters will decide the fate of 447 candidates (64 MP and 383 MLA) on May 25 in the sixth phase of the concurrent general election-2024.
A total of 94,41,797 voters including 48,26, 375 male voters and 46,14,134 female will cast their franchises on Saturday and will decide the fates of 64 MP and 383 MLA candidates on May 25.
As many as 10,515 polling stations and 36 additional polling stations for this phase, with approximately 896 voters per polling station have been set up. About 1500 polling stations will be fully managed by women staff and 30 will be fully handled by specially-abled staff.
Meanwhile, to commence the polling peacefully, a total of 35,000 state police and paramilitary security personnel has been deployed. Besides, 121 companies of Paramilitary Forces, 106 platoons of Odisha Armed Police and 19,865 civil police forces have been deployed for free and fair elections in Odisha.
Moreover, 43 Additional SPs, 95 DSPs, 238 inspectors, 2160 SIs, 10, 212 armed and unarmed Constables and Havildars, 7,117 Home Guards and Grama Rakhis have been deployed for the smooth polling.
The DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi said that 5 young IPS officers of ASP rank in Sambalpur, Khordha, Keonjhar and Cuttack have been mobilized at sensitive booths. A total of 84 DSPs, two each for one assembly segment, have been deployed to maintain law and order, he added.