Bhubaneswar, Nov. 11 -- Polling for the Nuapada Assembly by-election on Tuesday began under tight security, but proceedings were briefly disrupted after a presiding officer was suspended for failing to maintain voting secrecy. Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan confirmed the action at a press briefing, stating that voting otherwise continued peacefully across the constituency.

The incident occurred at booth number 36 in Kuliabandh, where Presiding Officer Dhananjay Mallik was suspended after an attendant accompanying an elderly woman pressed the button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) instead of the voter herself.

"The presiding officer should have intervened, but did not. Hence, he has been suspended," CEO Gopalan s...