PIPILI/BHUBANESWAR: Voting for the Pipili by-election commenced at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security and Covid-19 restrictions at different polling booths.
Around 7.8 per cent turnout was recorded till 9 am, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar Lohani.
Election Commission officials informed that the polling process has remained smooth and peaceful so far and no untoward incident has been reported yet.
Around 200 odd booths have been identified as sensitive in the Assembly segment and the administration has deployed close to 2,000 security personnel to ensure peaceful voting in a constituency that has a history of poll violence.
Adequate safety measures have also been put in place to make the election Covid safe, they said.
Apart from mandatory use of mask and social distancing inside the booths, the EC has made provision of hand sanitization and thermal scanning at the entry point of all polling stations.
The polling will continue till 6 pm in which round 2.29 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 10 candidates.
A triangular fight among ruling BJD, BJP and Congress is being expected in the bypoll.
Rudra Pratap Maharathy, son of former Minister late Pradeep Maharathy, is fighting on a BJD ticket, while BJP has fielded Ashrit Pattanayak and Bishwakeshan Harichandan Mohapatra is fighting on a Congress ticket in by-election.
The by-election was necessitated after the death of BJD leader and former Minister Pradeep Maharathy in October last year.
The bypoll scheduled to be held on April 17, was countermanded after Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj died of Covid-19 on April 14. It was then scheduled for May 13, but got deferred till May 16. Later it was rescheduled again in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic.
The counting of votes will take place on October 3.