Odisha by-election: In a massive boost for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha, its candidate Suryabanshi Suraj registered a thumping win over his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) rival Abanti Das in the Dhamnagar by-election.
Notably, the bypoll in the Dhamnagar seat was necessitated owing to the untimely demise of sitting BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi.
According to the official update by the Election Commission, deceased MLA Sethi's son Suraj defeated Das by a margin of 9,881, thus the saffron party retaining the seat. Suraj garnered 80,351 votes by the end of the 19 rounds of counting while Das could receive 70,470 votes.
Meanwhile, Independent candidate Rajendra Kumar Das bagged 8,153 votes while Congress candidate Baba Harekrushna Sethy only received 3,561 votes.
According to an election official, a three-tier security arrangement was in place for the counting exercise. A central supervisor, an assistant supervisor and a micro-observer were present along with party agents at the counting centre, the official said.
Earlier on November 3, at least 68.98% of the seat's 2,38,417 voters had cast their votes in 252 booths of Dhamnagar.
Earlier, senior BJD leader and state minister Pramila Mallick had exuded confidence that party candidate Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates, will win the election by a wide margin.
(With inputs from agencies)
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