Bhubaneswar: A total of 253,624 individuals, comprising 124,108 men, 129,495 women, and 21 individuals of the third gender, are eligible to vote in the by-election for the Nuapada Assembly constituency scheduled for November 11, a senior election official announced on Thursday. The final voter list for Nuapada was released by State Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan following a meeting with all political parties. This list includes 9,429 first-time voters, 3,988 persons with disabilities, and 1,786 individuals aged over 85. To accommodate voters, 56 new polling booths have been established, in accordance with the Election Commission of India’s guidelines that limit the number of voters per booth to 1,200, bringing the total number of polling stations in Nuapada to 358.
During the all-party meeting, the CEO urged compliance with the Election Commission’s directives to ensure a successful election. He mentioned that with the announcement of the election date, the model code of conduct is now in effect within the constituency, requiring the commission’s approval for any advertisements across electronic, print, and social media, as well as in cinema, radio, posters, and hoardings. Furthermore, candidates must publicly disclose any criminal affiliations in printed media and report this to the commission. The meeting also covered party and candidate expense reports, lists of star campaigners, and adherence to the model code of conduct, according to an official release.
The voter list underwent a special summary revision from September 16 to 29, during which officials processed 7,791 new registration applications, 2,869 deletions, and 1,895 corrections. After verification, 10,685 applications were approved. Eligible citizens can still apply to be included in the voter list until October 10, ten days before the nomination filing deadline. The final updated list will be published seven days later. This by-election follows the passing of sitting MLA Rajendra Dholakia of the BJD and marks the first by-election in Odisha since the BJP took power in the state.