The Hindu, 15th April, 2009
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Orissa is going to polls for ten Lok Sabha and 70 assembly seats in the first phase on Thursday amid unprecedented security due to Maoist threat.
A total of 1.26 crore voters, including 62.08 lakh women, will cast their franchise in the first phase.
As many as 599 aspirants, including 48 women, are trying their luck at the hustings in 70 assembly segments across the state.
The voting will be held at 15,045 polling stations of which around 3,000 are declared 'sensitive'.
Voting for the rest 11 of the 21 Lok Sabha and 77 of the 147 assembly constituencies in the state is scheduled to be held on April 23 in the second phase.
As many as 72 candidates, including four women, are in the fray in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies of Bargarh, Sundargarh (ST), Sambalpur, Balangir, Kalahandi, Nawarangpur (ST), Kandhamal, Aska, Berhampur and Koraput (ST).
In view of Maoist menace and poll boycott call given by the ultras, polling in 19 assembly segments spread over Nawrangpur, Koraput, Berhampur and Kandhaml Lok Sabha seats would be held from 7 am to 3 pm, while elsewhere it would be held between 7 am and 4 pm, official sources said.
Nearly 4,000 jawans of para-military forces were deployed and three choppers engaged in sensitive and Naxal-infested areas and the state has sought seven more companies of central forces to ensure peaceful polls.
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