Bhadrak: The counting of votes for the by-election to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bhadrak district began at 8 am on Sunday.
According to sources, postal ballots were counted in the first round, and votes polled in EVMs from 8.30 am onwards at 14 tables while there is one table for the returning officer in the hall. There will be 18 rounds of counting and VVPATs of randomly selected five booths will be taken up for cross-verification. The result is likely to be announced by 2 pm.
A total of 10 platoons of the armed police force along with a platoon of CRPF jawans have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the entire counting process. CCTVs have been installed at all centres.
The Election Commission of India has deputed an observer to oversee the counting process, and there will be one counting supervisor and one assistant at each table. In addition, one micro-observer of the central government will be deputed and that person will report to the observer.
Apart from the announcement of results at the venue, the same will also be available to the general public through the website results.eci.gov.in.
The result is eagerly awaited as the bypoll saw a neck-to-neck contest between ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Abanti Das, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Suryabanshi Suraj, the son of former MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi whose death necessitated the by-election, and independent candidate Rajendra Das.
The by-election to the assembly segment saw a 3% drop in turnout and more women casting their votes. The voter turnout was 68.98% against 71.93% in 2019. Also, 6441 more women voted than men in the by-election.
Among the 2,38,417 voters in the constituency, a total of 1,64,465, including 85,452 women, 79,011 men and two members of the third sex have exercised their franchise in the by-election, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI).
It is pertinent to mention here that BJD won all six Zilla Parishad seats and 9 of 11 wards of Dhamnagar Notified Area Council (NAC) in the panchayat and civic polls held in February and April respectively this year. The party has also won all bypolls since 2019.
However, Late BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi defeated ruling BJD candidate Rajendra Das by over 4,000 votes in the 2019 elections.
Also Read: Dhamnagar Bypoll: EVMs Kept Under 3-Layer Security Before Counting Of Votes On Sunday
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