Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Polling began on Monday for by-election to Padampur assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district, amid tight security arrangements, an Election Commission official said. Voting started at 7 am in all the 319 polling stations of the rural assembly segment and will continue till 4 pm, he said. Over 2.57 lakh voters, including 12 members of the transgender community, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-poll.
The by-election assumes significance in the wake of the BJD’s loss in Dhamnagar, its first such defeat since 2009, with many in political circles claiming that the result would also indicate if electoral scales were tilting against the Naveen Patnaik-led party ahead of the 2024 state elections. At least 1,400 police personnel and nine companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the by-election, the official said.
