Election to Odisha's Patkura assembly seat gets underway

Polling to Odisha's Patkura assembly seat got under way at 7 am on Saturday, after being postponed twice in the past few months, an official said.

An estimated 12 per cent of the over 2.44 lakh electorate exercised their franchise during the first two hours of polling, he said.

Voting is progressing peacefully with no untoward incident reported so far from anywehre in the constituency in coastal Kendrapara district, the official said.

The constituency is witnessing an interesting political battle with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's bete noire, Bijoy Mohapatra of the BJP, locked in a fight with BJD nominee, Sabitri Agarwal.

Mohapatra, a four-time MLA and one of the founders of the BJD, was ousted from the party by Patnaik just before the 2000 assembly polls. Since then, he has not been able to make it to the state assembly.

While there are 10 candidates in the fray, it is likely to be a straight fight between the BJD and the BJP.

Sabitri Agarwal, fielded by the ...