Bhubaneswar: Voting began on Tuesday morning for 6 Lok Sabha seats, and 42 assembly seats in Odisha.
In Odisha, the third phase of elections will witness a battle between several political heavyweights as well as former bureaucrats.
Puri will witness a triangular fight between spokespersons of three major political parties, as two-time sitting MP and BJD spokesman Pinaki Mishra will cross swords with BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra and state Congress media cell Chairman Satya Prakash Nayak. Dhenkanal is also expected to witness a triangular fight.
The third phase elections for the six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha commenced on Tuesday.
Voting began at 7 a.m. and it will continue till 6 p.m.. In the Maoists affected areas, polling will end at 4 p.m., said an election officer.
As many as 92,56,322 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur, Keonjhar and Dhenkanal, Koraput Lok Sabha seats and 42 Assembly constituencies under them.
Out of the total voters, there are 47,99,030 male, 44,56,629 female and 1,163 belonging to the third gender category.
They will decide the fate of total 417 candidates -- 61 Lok Sabha and 356 Assembly -- in 10,464 booths.
The Election Commission has identified 3,186 critical polling booths while CCTVs have been installed in 779 booths and Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed in 596 polling stations.
As many as 20,778 volunteers and 6,190 vehicles have been engaged to assist 1,58,495 differently-abled voters.
Odisha not only votes for 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, but also the 147 Assembly seats that fall under them in 4 phases.
The first two phases were held on 11 April and 18 April. The last phase will be held on 29 April, and the result will come on 23 May.
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