Voting for the Bijepur Assembly by-election would be conducted at 285 booths in three blocks, Bijepur, Barpali and Gaisilet, on Monday.
BJD’s Rita Sahu, BJP’s Sanat Gadtia and Congress’ Dillip Panda are in the fray, among a dozen of candidates.
While voting would be conducted from 7 am till 5pm, security has been tightened at 129 sensitive booths. CCTV camerals have been installed at 14 polling booths.
A total of 2,32,264 voters comprising 1,12,114 women, 1,20,135 men and 10 transgenders are expected to decide fate of the candidates.
Special provisions have been made for 2,750 Divyang voters to exercise their franchise. A total of 2,321 vehicles have been engaged for the poll.
Though residents of Bijepur will choose MLA for a third time in a little over two years, a tripartite fight is still expected among the BJD, the BJP and the Congress candidates.
While Sahu is banking on developmental works and clean image of BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, BJP candidate Gadtia expects to garner voters’ support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity. Congress candidate Panda is hopeful of getting more votes this time based on developmental works done by it in the past.