Rourkela: The Rourkela Assembly constituency is witnessing a close contest between two heavyweights – BJP’s Dilip Ray and BJD’s Sarada Nayak.
After initial lead, Ray was 455 votes behind Nayak as counting progressed to the 8th of 15 rounds. He again gained lead of 129 votes after the ninth round of counting.
The return of Ray, a former central and state minister and three-time MLA from Rourkela, into active politics after 10 years had spiced up the electoral battle in the Assembly constituency. The decision of Nihar Ray, who the BJP candidate from the seat in 2019, to contest the polls as an independent after being denied a party ticket was, however, seen as a hurdle in his path to victory.
Ray, who was close to former chief minister Biju Patnaik, had won from Rourkela in 1985, 1990 on Janata Dal ticket and in 2014 as a BJP candidate.
Nayak, on the other hand, is seeking his fourth term in the constituency. He had won the seat in 2004, 2009 and 2019 elections. The BJD leader had lost to Dilip in 2014 polls by over 11,000 votes.
