KENDRAPARA: The Election Commission has decided to monitor 31 out of 309 polling booths in Patkura Assembly constituency through web-casting.Kendrapara Collector Samarth Verma said live video from the 31 booths will be directly monitored by the EC through web-casting.
The entire recording will be closely watched in control rooms of the district and the CEO’s office in Bhubaneswar.
“We have installed CCTV cameras in 40 polling booths. Elaborate arrangements have also been made for smooth conduct of the election. Five Magistrates, four companies of CRPF and policemen have been deployed in Patkura to ensure an incident-free election. The administration has identified 138 booths as critical in the constituency,” Verma said.
Patkura Assembly constituency, which comprises Marsaghai, Garadapur and Derabishi blocks, will go to polls on Saturday.
A total of 10 candidates are in the poll fray. Prominent among them are BJP candidate Bijay Mohapatra, Jayanta Mohanty of Congress and BJD’s Sabitri Agrawalla, wife of former minister Bed Prakash Agarwalla.
During the three-week-long high-voltage campaign, Patkura witnessed participation of BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as well as Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi in political rallies and roadshows across the Assembly constituency.
This apart, many BJD ministers, MLAs and Congress leaders also campaigned intensely to ensure the win of their respective party candidates.
Patkura is witnessing one of the most interesting political battles in the state.
It is a do-or-die situation for BJP candidate Mohapatra, considered the bete noire of Naveen.
In 2000, the BJD supremo had prevented Mohapatra from contesting the election from Patkura by denying him party ticket at the last moment.
Since then, Mohapatra has not been able to enter the State Assembly with Naveen ensuring his defeat in all the subsequent polls.
Election to Patkura was countermanded following the death of 82-year-old BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla on April 20.
The Election Commission issued a fresh schedule for the election on May 19. But the poll panel later postponed the election for two months due to cyclone Fani.
The Assembly segment has 2,44,747 voters including 1,17,306 women.