Voting in the Pipili Assembly by-election in Puri district was peaceful with 68.40 per cent voter turning out till 5 pm on Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer SK Lohani said. There was no report of any untoward incident from the constituency. "People cast their votes adhering to the Covid-19 guidelines. Security personnel were deployed in all the polling booths to ensure free and fair voting," Lohani said. Lohani said mock polling was held in the 348 booths before voting began at 7 am. However, polling in some booths got delayed due to technical glitches in the electronic voting machines. Votes would be counted on October 3. The administration deployed as many as 2,000 police personnel to ensure peaceful voting. While webcasting was in 175 of the 201 sensitive booths, video recording arrangements were made in 12 booths. Twenty-three micro-observers were appointed to monitor the voting process. Nearly 2.30 lakh voters would decide the fate of 10 candidates, including the ruling BJD's Rudrapratap Maharathy, Ashrit Pattnaik of the BJP and Congress nominee Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra. All the candidates cast votes in their respective polling booths.
Those with high body temperature got tokens to cast their vote during the last one hour. All Government and private employees, who are voters, were granted paid holiday. The by-poll was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Pradeep Maharathy in October, 2020.