Bhubaneswar, Nov 3 (UNI) Voting for the by-election to Balasore Sadar and Tirtol (SC) Assembly constituencies began at 7 AM this morning adhering to all covid-19 guidelines.

The voting will continue till 6 PM. The counting of votes will be done on November 10 next.

Over 4.6 lakh voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise in 719 polling stations to elect their representatives in these two constituencies

In Balasore, 2,30,297 voters will decide the fate of six candidates whereas in Tirtol 2,37,282 voters will decide the fate of nine candidates contesting the by-election.

Six companies of a central force, 251 officers, 3500 pooling personnel, 800 ASHA workers and an equal number of volunteers have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the polling.

The by-election is being held following the demise of BJP Balasore sitting MLA Madan Mohan Dutta and Tirtol BJD sitting MLA Bishnu Charan Das.

Manas Mohan Dutta(BJP) and Bijay Shankar Das(BJD), both sons of the deceased MLA are contesting the by-election for Balasore and Tirtol (SC) Assembly seats respectively.

CEO office sources said by 9 AM about 9.81 per cent of voters had cast their ballots while in Tirtol 7.58 per cent of the voters had cast their ballots.



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