Bhubaneswar, Nov 3 (IANS): An average 38.75 per cent polling was registered for the

by-election to Dhamnagar (SC) Assembly constituency in Odisha's Bhadrak district, officials in the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.

As many as 2,38,417 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the poll, of which 1,23,038 are male, 1,15,346 female and 33 transgenders.

The voting started at 7 a.m. under tight security at 252 polling booths and will continue till 6 p.m. Voters could be seen standing in long queues to exercise their voting right.

Based upon the field inputs, 110 booths have been identified as sensitive. The Election Commission Special has made special security arrangements at these booths. A total of 997 police personnel and four companies of CAPF have been deployed for the poll, the officials said.

Five candidates have remained in fray for the bypoll. Apart from BJD's Abanti Das, BJP's Suryabanshi Suraj and Congress' Baba Harekrushna Sethi, two independent candidates -- "Raju Das and Pabitra Mohan Das -- are fighting for the MLA seat that fell vacant following the demise of BJP MLA Bishnu Sethi.

A polling officer engaged on duty at booth number 139 during the by-election passed away on Thursday while undergoing treatment at Cuttack SCB.