Ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate Deepali Das is leading over her BJP rival Tankadhar Tripathi by 15,751 votes after the sixth round of counting in the bypoll to Odisha’s Jharsuguda Assembly seat held on May 13. An election officer gave this information.
According to the Election Commission official, the BJD candidate got 35,609 votes while the BJP candidate got 19,858 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey stood third with 1948 votes during the counting of votes. Out of total nine candidates, now the contest is between BJD and BJP candidate.
The counting of votes began here at 8 am amidst tight security. The counting of postal ballots started and later EVM votes were counted. Counting of votes is being done on 14 tables and counting will be done in 18 rounds.
Odisha Chief Electoral Officer Nikunj Bihari Dhall said the counting process is likely to be completed by afternoon.
The result of the bypoll will have no impact on the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government as the party enjoys a substantial majority. Overall, 79.21% of the 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise on 10 May.
The by-election was held following the assassination of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on 29 January, allegedly by a police officer.
In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 113 members, and the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs, respectively. Is a member of CPI(M) and is an independent MLA.