Odisha bypolls: BJD leading in Balasore, Tirtol

Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is leading as the counting of votes for by-polls to Balasore Sadar and Tirtol assembly constituencies is underway on Tuesday.

After 1st round, BJD candidate Bijay Shankar Das was leading in Tirtol by around 1078 votes.

BJD was also leading in Balasore Sadar Assembly constituency.

Out of total 7184 votes counted in the first round, BJD has secured 3427 votes while BJP got 2812 in the Balsore seat.

The result will decide the fate of 15 candiates.

Elaborate arrangements have been made for the counting of votes amid strict adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines.

For the Balasore Sadar constituency, counting is taking place at the Balasore Collectorate, while counting for the Tirtol assembly constituency is being held at the SVM College premises, Jagatsinghpur.

A three-layer security arrangement has been made for counting of votes in the two assembly constituencies. The outer layer will be manned by the local police while the middle layer will be manned by the state armed police personnel and the innermost layer by the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

The by-elections in the two constituencies were necessitated by the demise of BJP MLA Madan Mohan Dutta in Balasore and BJD legislator Bishnu Charan Das in Tirtol.