BHUBANESWAR: More than 99.61 lakh voters will decide the fate of 66 candidates in six Lok Sabha seats and 394 nominees in 42 assembly segments under them in the crucial fourth and last
phase
of
polls
in the state on Saturday.
President Droupadi Murmu's home district Mayurbhanj, missile launchpad Balasore,
BJD
ideologue Biju Patnaik's karmabhoomi Kendrapada, state BJP president Manmohan Samal's native place Bhadrak, BJD organisational general secretary Pranab Prakash Das's stronghold of Jajpur and maritime trade hub of Jagatsinghpur will vote in the last phase amid tight security.
In the parliamentary constituencies, the fates of pilot-politician Baijayant Panda (BJP), former Union ministers Pratap Sarangi (BJP) and Shrikant Kumar Jena (Cong),
Odisha
minister Sudam Marndi (BJD), among others, will be sealed in the EVM machines.
In the assembly polls, prominent politicians in the fray include state BJP chief Samal (Chandabali), former Odisha Pradesh Congress committee president Niranjan Patnaik (Bhandaripokhari) and minister Pratap Keshari Deb (Aul), among others. Chief electoral officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said 126 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF) have been deployed to ensure free and fair polls in the last phase. More than 70,000 polling officials have been deployed for simultaneous polling in 10,882 booths from 7 am to 6 pm in the last phase.
On the eve of the elections, chief minister
Naveen Patnaik
visited a bookstall in Bhubaneswar accompanied by his close associate V K Pandian on Friday.
Outcome of the last phase of polls is crucial for both the BJP and BJD in their Odisha game-plan. While BJD has announced Naveen Patnaik will take oath on June 9 for a sixth successive term, BJP has said June 4 (counting day) will be BJD's expiry date while it will announce its CM candidate on June 6, who will take oath on June 10.
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