Voting underway in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, April 17 (IANS) Enthusiastic voters lined up early at polling booths to vote simultaneously for the 11 Lok Sabha and 77 state assembly seats in Odisha in the second phase of polls Thursday, officials said.

“Polling has started peacefully. There has been no report of any untoward incident," Chief Electoral Officer Mona Sharma told IANS.

By 10 a.m., 15 percent of ballot have been cast,an election official said.

Over 15 million voters will decide the political fate of 98 candidates contesting the 11 Lok Sabha and 747 candidates vying for the 77 state assembly seats.

Prominent among the Lok Sabha candidates are Congress stalwart and union minister Srikant Jena, ruling Biju Janata Dal’s industrialist-turned politician Baijayant Jay Panda, editors of two leading local dailies, BJD’s Tathagata Satpathy and Bhatruhari Mahtab.

All are members of the outgoing Lok Sabha and they are seeking re-election.

Prominent among the candidates seeking re-election to the state assembly are eight ministers of the state government.

They are Damodar Rout, Devi Prashad Mishra, Maheswar Monanty, Pratap Keshari Deb, Badri Narayan Patra, Bijoyshree Routray, Rajanikant Singh and Arun Sahu.

Re-polling is also being held in 22 polling stations where voting was disrupted in the first phase April 10, a senior state election official told IANS