Nuapada/Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Jay Dholakia on Friday further increased his lead to 46,713 votes over his nearest BJD candidate Snehangini Chhuria in Odisha’s Nuapada Assembly by-election.
As the counting of votes was in progress on Friday, Dholakia polled 68,564 votes at the end of 14th round, while Chhuria bagged 21,851 votes, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi was at the third position polling 21,460 votes at the end of 14th round of counting. Majhi, who had moved to the second position for a brief period, was again pushed to the third place after sixth round.
Results of the bypoll will be announced later in the day once the counting of votes is completed. Polling was held on November 11 across 358 booths. Around 2.54 lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes, while the turnout touched a historic 83.45 per cent.
The by-election was held following the death of four-time MLA Rajendra Dholakia on September 8. Rajendra Dholakia’s son Jay Dholakia contested on a BJP ticket, while Snehnagini Chhuria represented the BJD, and tribal leader Ghasiram Majhi was the Congress candidate.
The counting of votes is being conducted in 26 rounds across 14 counting tables and one for postal votes.
