Bhubaneswar: After the last but one round of counting for bypoll to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency, BJP’s Suryabanshi Suraj surged ahead by 8,825 votes.
Suryabanshi has so far garnered 75,239 votes with his rival and BJD candidate Abanti Das polling 66,414. The dissidence perhaps played a decisive role in this bypoll with Independent candidate and former MLA Rajendra Das wresting some votes from the ruling party’s kitty. He has so far got 7,888 votes.
Also Read: BJP ‘Halts’ BJD Juggernaut: Suryabanshi Takes Significant Lead In Dhamnagar Bypoll
The vote share for BJP is almost the same as was in 2019, when Bishnu Sethi, whose demise necessitated the bypoll, defeated Das by a margin of 4,625 votes. The BJD, however, has seen a drop of 2.54% in its vote share.
2022
Suryavanshi Suraj: 48.69%
Abanti Das: 43.13%
2019
Bishnu Charan Sethi: 48.47%
Rajendra Das (BJD): 45.67%
The saffron party seems to have retained its position in the constituency though more women, the traditional vote bank of BJD, than men exercised their franchise at 252 booths on November 3 with saw 68.98 per cent turnout. The regional party had attempted to counter the sympathy wave for Suryabanshi by playing the woman card.
Congress, on the other hand, is likely to end up as a poor fourth having secured mere 3,175 votes so far.
The results will be announced after the 19th round.
