Bhubaneswar, June 1: A voting percentage of 62.46 per cent was recorded in Odisha's six Lok Sabha seats and 42 Assembly segments till 5 PM on Saturday where simultaneous elections are taking place.

Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency recorded the highest polling with 64.31%, followed by Mayurbhanj at 64.17%, Jajpur at 62.92%, Kendrapara at 62.02%, Balasore at 61.94% and Bhadrak at 56.68%.

Voting started at 7 AM in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituencies along with 42 Assembly segments falling under these parliamentary seats.

As many as 66 candidates are contesting for the six Lok Sabha seats, while 394 contestants are competing for the 42 Assembly segments.

The voters will decide the fate of several heavyweights from different political parties, including former Union Minister and BJP’s Balasore MP candidate, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, the party’s national vice president and candidate for Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, Baijayant Panda, senior Congress leader Srikant Kumar Jena, ruling Biju Janata Dal leader Pratap Keshari Deb in this phase.

Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer N B Dhal said voting has been peaceful so far in the 10,882 polling booths, barring some reports of EVM glitches, which were mostly resolved or the machines replaced in some cases.

The twin elections for all 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 Assembly constituencies in Odisha are being held in four phases starting from May 13. The counting of the votes will be held on June 4.

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