In Odisha, polling began at 7 this morning in six parliamentary constituencies and 42 assembly segments. Long queues are being seen in the booths with lots of enthusiasm among the voters to cast their franchise. The six parliamentary constituencies going for polls in the sixth phase are Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Bhubaneswar and Keonjhar. A total of 64 candidates are in the fray for the six Lok Sabha seats and 383 candidates for the 42 Assembly seats which include many heavyweight leaders from the BJD, BJP and Congress. About 94 lakh 49 thousand voters are expected to vote at 10,515 polling booths across all these constituencies.

As many as 121 companies of Central Armed Police Forces are deployed in the six Lok Sabha constituencies for smooth conduct of the polling.

The political fate of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, senior BJP leaders Bhartruhari Mahatab, Sambit Patra, Aparajita Sarangi, BJD organisation general secretary Pranab Prakash Das and Congress leader Nagendra Pradhan will be decided in today’s Lok Sabha elections, while many state ministers and sitting MLAs are in the fray in the third phase of Odisha Assembly polls being held simultaneously.