BERHAMPUR: As many as 5,67,756 voters including 2,71,105 women of 116 villages in five blocks of Ganjam district will elect 116 sarpanch and samiti members and 16 zilla parishad members in the first phase of three-tier panchayat polls scheduled on Wednesday.
While 1,645 booths have been set up in the villages, 1,645 polling parties were despatched to their assigned booths on Monday. Sources said video recording will be done at 178 sensitive and 146 hyper-sensitive booths in the villages. For women voters, five pink booths- one each in the five-block headquarters have been set up.
Besides to facilitate voters from inaccessible villages of Patrapur block, 17 temporary booths have been set up in other areas. In a meeting to review preparedness for the elections, Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange asked police and excise personnel to intensify patrolling in the poll-bound villages.
Poll observer and additional secretary of Higher Education department Birendra Kumar Karakara said passes have been issued to candidates and their agents and they will be allowed to enter the booths only after producing the same.