Over 2.53 lakh people eligible to cast votes in Nuapada

Bhubaneswar: A total of 2,53,624 people, including 1,24,108 men, 1,29,495 women and 21 people of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the November 11 by-election to Nuapada Assembly constituency, a senior poll official said on Thursday.

State Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan released the final voter list of Nuapada after holding a meeting with all parties here. The final voter list includes 9,429 first-time voters, 3,988 persons with disabilities and 1,786 people aged above 85 years.

As many as 56 new booths have been set up for the by-election as per the guideline of the Election Commission of India capping the number of voters per booth at 1,200, the CEO said. The total number of polling stations in Nuapada will be 358, he said.

At the all-party meeting, the CEO advised all parties to strictly follow the guidelines issued by the ECI to make the elections successful. Noting that with the announcement of the election date, the model code of conduct has come into force in the constituency, he said approval of the commission is required for issuing any advertisement through electronic, print and social media and web media, including cinema halls, radio, posters and hoardings.

Along with this, it has been made mandatory to publish the declaration of criminal affiliation of the candidates contesting the elections in the printed media and inform the commission about it. Details of expenses of the parties and candidates, list of star campaigners and proper compliance with the model code of conduct were also discussed in the meeting, an official release said.

The voter list underwent a special summary revision from September 16 to 29. During this period, officials received 7,791 applications for new registrations, 2,869 for deletions, and 1,895 for corrections. After verification, 10,685 applications were accepted, another official said.

He said that eligible citizens can still apply for inclusion in the voter list by October 10, ten days before the deadline for filing nominations. The final updated list will be published seven days later.

The by-election is necessitated following the demise of sitting MLA Rajendra Dholakia of the BJD. This will be the first by-election in Odisha after BJP formed the government in the State.