ODISHA ELECTIONS 2024: 102 COMPANIES OF CAPF TO BE DEPLOYED IN CRITICAL BOOTHS

Bhubaneswar (18/05/2024): More than 79 lakh voters are all set to exercise their franchise in the second phase of polling in Odisha which is scheduled to be held on May 20, 2024. Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal on Saturday informed that voting will be held for 35 Assembly seats and 5 Parliamentary segments in the second phase of polling in the state and 5th phase of polling in the country.

The 5 Parliamentary segments are Kandhamal, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Balangir and Aska. A total 265 candidates are in fray for the 35 Assembly seats and 40 candidates for the 5 Lok Sabha seats, said Dhal.

Special arrangements have been made for the polling on May 20 for the voters in around 9,162 polling booths. Of the total booths, 20 percent are sensitive or critical polling stations including some at the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts of the state.

To tackle any untoward incident, 102 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be deployed in the districts where voting is scheduled to be held on May 20.

The highest deployment of 22 companies will be in Kandhamal district, 20 companies in Ganjam, 16 companies in Sundargarh, 14 companies each in Balangir and Bargarh, 5 companies in Jharsuguda, 4 in Sonepur 4 and 2 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in Nayagarh, he added.