Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (PTI) More women than men exercised their franchise in the by-poll to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency in Odisha held on Thursday.

Out of the total 2,38,417 people eligible to cast their votes in the by-poll, 1,64,465 (68.98 per cent) electors exercised their franchise.

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Of them, 74.08 per cent were women and 64.21 per cent were men.

However, the overall voting percentage fell to 68.98 per cent from 72.64 per cent in 2019, election office sources said.

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After the close of polling, an estimated 66.63 per cent of the over 2.38 lakh voters were stated to have exercised their franchise. A large number of voters were still in queue at that time.

Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S K Lohan claimed that Thursday's polling was by and large peaceful even as the opposition BJP and the Congress alleged that the ruling BJD had resorted to “massive” distribution of cash to influence voters.

Meanwhile, the ECI has made elaborate security arrangements for the counting of votes on Sunday.

The sealed EVMs were kept with three layer security cover, an official said.

One platoon (30 personnel) of central armed force was deployed in the inner cordon of the store room, while another platoon of state armed police was also on duty there.

Another platoon of Bhadrak district police is guarding the EVM store room, he said. Meanwhile, senior BJD leader Pramila Mallick claimed that BJD candidate Abaniti Das will win the Dhamnagar by-poll with a margin of 20,000 to 25,000 votes.

The BJD's victory is certain as more women in large number participated in the voting, she said.

BJP state president Samir Mohanty said: “We are confident of retaining the Dhamnagar seat as people have blessed late MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj.”

The by-poll in Dhamnagar assembly segment was held following death of its MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi on September 19, 2022.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)