State Chief Electoral Officer SK Lohani said that by-polls are to be held in Odisha’s Dhamnagar constituency on Thursday, where tight security arrangements have been made.
Lohani said 1,000 police personnel and four companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed and the entry and exit points of Dhamnagar constituency in Bhadrak district have been sealed.
He said that out of the total 252 polling stations, 110 have been declared sensitive and webcasting would be done at 126 polling stations.
Five candidates are in the fray for the by-election.
While the ruling BJD has fielded a woman, Abanti Das, the opposition BJP’s candidate is Suryavanshi Suraj, son of late MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, whose bypoll was necessitated on September 19.
The Congress has fielded advocate Baba Harekrishna Sethi while former BJD MLA Rajendra Das is in the fray as an independent. AAP candidate Anwar Sheikh is also in the fray.
He said that the broadcast of exit or opinion polls has been banned during the voting on November 3.
Campaigning for votes within a distance of 100 meters from the polling stations has also been banned.
The CEO said that at least five cases have been registered with the police in relation to the election code of conduct violations.
He said that a total of 1,008 polling officers have been deployed. More than 2.38 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. He said that there will be 15 model booths and five pink booths, which will have women security personnel and polling teams.
Pick-up and drop arrangements have been made for physically challenged voters, he said, adding that there will be ramps, separate queues and wheelchairs for them.
The CEO said that dummy ballot papers in Braille will be available with each Presiding Officer to help the visually impaired voters.
Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm and counting of votes will take place on November 6.
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