Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Polling for four Lok Sabha – Berhampur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur – and 28 Vidhan Sabha seats in Odisha commenced at 7 am.
Odisha citizens have also been urged to cast ballots by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Odisha’s Assembly Elections are starting today. I urge everyone in this state to cast a ballot in great numbers. “Leave your voice heard loud and clear—your vote is your voice,” he wrote on X.Voting is now taking place at 7303 polling places spread across eight state districts. The remaining seven Assembly seats—Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, and Kalahandi—are all in South Odisha, with the exception of Nuapada. Ganjam has five of the thirteen seats. 9.25% of voters were present as of 9 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal told a press conference that during a practice vote, errors were discovered in multiple EVMs and those were later replaced. He gave the voters his word that “EVMs with technical glitches will be replaced within 30 minutes.”
Previous reports stated that voting in Booths No. 66 at Kumutiguda in Malkangiri, No. 101 at Nuapada, and Nos. 89 and 72 at Loharapali and Podapali in Khariar had been delayed due to technical issues with the EVM. For the same reason, voting was delayed at Booths Nos. 160 and 194 in Jeypore and Nos. 59 and 60 in Boriguma.
A thick security cover has also been put in place in Nabarangpur and Koraput Lok Sabha (LS) seats where Maoists have called for poll boycott. Voters were seen lining up at a booth in Chitrakonda assembly segment of Malkangiri, where 25 CAPF companies have been deployed to maintain law and order during the polls, this morning.
