Bhubaneswar: Voting for the by-elections to the Pipili assembly constituency began at 7 am amidst full security and adherence to Covid-19 guidelines. About 2.30 lakh voters will cast their votes today. The three major candidates include Rudrapratap Maharathy of the Biju Janata Dal, Ashrit Patnaik of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Biswakeshan Harichandan Mahapatra of the Congress. The seat became vacant due to the untimely death of BJD stalwart Pradeep Maharathy.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the district administration for smooth conduct of the polls. Twenty Five platoons of Police Force along with 3 Companies of CAPF supervised by 35 senior officers in the rank of SP/Addl SP/ DSP/ Inspector has been made. In addition to this, 163 number of SIs/ DSIs/ Dy. Subedars/ ASIs/ HMs and 736 number of Havildars/ Constables/ APRs/ HGs have been deployed.
The total 348 polling booths have been divided into 4 zones supervised by 3 Addl. SPs and assisted by 4 Dy. SPs.
Thirty officers in the rank of SI/ASI along with 30 sections of force have been deployed at 10 numbers of Naka / Check Posts and 6 SI/ASI with 15 section of force deployed as SF/ QRT under Pipili, Delanga, Balanga and Satyabadi PS areas. Total 32 number of Mobile Parties have been deployed. Six Flying Squad/ Static Surveillance teams have been formed for proper monitoring with a view to ensure free and fair Bye-Election.
Officials have made elaborate arrangements to screen the voters with thermal scanners. They are also being provided with hand gloves, masks and sanitisers as per the directions of the Election Commission of India.