Voting in the Nuapada Assembly by‑election finished peacefully on Tuesday, with a high turnout of about 81.5 percent.
Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer, R.S. Gopalan, said that voters cast ballots across all 165 polling stations in the constituency. He added that 47 booths finished by 4 p.m., while the rest stayed open until 5 p.m.
“Everything went smoothly and no major incidents happened,” Gopalan told reporters. He highlighted that eight remote booths in forested areas were serviced by helicopter. All the helicopters brought voting teams in and out safely, and the teams returned after their work.
A small glitch at Booth 246 required one Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) to be swapped after 5 p.m. Election officials resolved the issue quickly, and voting carried on without a hitch.
There were also rumors that an EVM had been frozen on a particular candidate. Gopalan confirmed that an investigation found no evidence of malfunction. When voters were offered a test vote under Section 49M, no one took advantage of it. Party agents checked the machines and reported them as working properly.
Security remained tight. Police presence was strong enough to keep order, and no serious law‑and‑order problems were reported during the day.
All EVMs and VVPATs (voter‑verified paper audit trails) were collected in a secure room that same night, with observers and candidates’ representatives present. The sealing process will wrap up tonight or early tomorrow morning once every machine has been accounted for.
Final voter‑turnout numbers will be released later Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning after all the polling data is tallied.
Source: ianslive
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