Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Jay Dholakia on Friday positioned himself for a spectacular in the Nuapada Assembly by-election in Odisha.
The BJP camp in the state is gearing up for celebrations as Dholakia has already increased his lead to 59,912 votes as the counting process was in progress. The saffron party seemed poised to wrest the Nuapada Assembly seat from Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which had won from the constituency in 2024 elections.
At the end of 18th round of vote counting, Dholakia secured 88,278 votes, establishing a massive lead over his rivals in Nuapada where polling was held on November 11.
Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi was at second position polling 28,366 votes, while Snhehangini Chhuria of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) closely followed him with 27,438 votes. Chhuria, who remained in the second position in several rounds of counting, was pushed to the third place.
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.
