Bhadrak: BJP’s candidate Suryabanshi Suraj was led by 1379 votes after the second round of counting of votes for bypoll to the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bhadrak district.
He got 8737 votes while BJD’s Abanti Das was a close second with 7358 votes. Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi secured mere 313 votes while 597 were polled in favour of Independent candidate and former Dhamnagar MLA Rajendra Kumar Das.
Notably, 16 more rounds of counting are to be done.
In Round I, BJP’s vote share had increased by 2.35%, while BJD’s dropped by 3.08% compared to 2019.
The BJD fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total of five candidates in Dhamnagar, where the bypoll was necessitated following the demise of BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi. The saffron party fielded Sethi’s son Suryabanshi Suraj to cash in on a sympathy wave. Rebel BJD candidate Das added a twist with his last-minute entry into the fray.
