Bhubaneswar, Jan. 19: The elections to the newly constituted notified area councils (NACs) at Champua in Keonjhar district and Baliguda in Kandhamal district passed off peacefully with high voter turnout.

"In Champua, 83.3 per cent voters have exercised their franchise and 74 per cent in Baliguda," secretary to the State Election Commissioner Dukhishyam Satpathy told The Telegraph.

"No untoward incident was reported from any of the places," he said.

However, technical glitches in one of the electronic voting machines were reported in ward No. 2 of the Champua NAC.

In Champua, a mining hub, all the 13 booths were identified as hyper-sensitive and sensitive in view of the sensitive character of the town, which shares border with Jharkhand. Heavy deployment of armed police was made in the town to prevent any untoward incidents.

For the 13 wards of the Champua NAC, 41 candidates were in fray. While the BJD and the BJP fielded candidates in all the 13 wards, the Congress was in fray in eight wards. Moreover, there are seven Independent candidates in the race. The contest was held mostly among candidates of the BJD, BJP and the Independents. However, local Independent MLA Sanatan Mahakud was expected to tip the balance even though he claimed that he had not fielded any candidate.

The ruling BJD had taken the election as a prestige issue, as the party had lost the Assembly seat to Mahakud, an Independent.

Recently, the chairperson of neighbouring Keonjhar Municipality was dislodged on the day chief minister Naveen Patnaik was visiting the district. As many as nine BJD councillors ousted the party candidate defying the party whip. Mahakud was suspected to have a role behind the move.

Mahakud, who runs a flourishing transport business in Keonjhar's mineral belt, has been putting his money to good use. Sources said the legislator, who defeated Odia movie star Pappu Pom Pom, handpicked as the BJD candidate by the chief minister in the 2014 elections, gives out a monthly dole of Rs 1,000 to around 7,000 people out of the 9,000-odd voters in the Champua municipal area.

Several senior ministers such as finance minister Pradip Amat, energy minister Pranab Prakash Das and rural development minister Badri Narayan Patra campaigned for the BJD candidates.

The results will come out on Thursday. The elected councillors will choose the chairperson. The post has been reserved for the ST women.

At Baliguda, polling was held in 16 booths amid tight security. As many as 42 candidates locked their horns. All the three major parties - the BJD, Congress and the BJP - fielded their candidates in all the wards. Besides, three Independent candidates were in the fray.