Bhubaneswar: Candidates from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have registered lead over their nearest rival BJP nominees so far in the by-elections for the Tirtol and Balasore Sadar constituencies as the counting of votes continues.
As per the counting trends of the Election Commission of India (ECI), BJD nominee Bijay Shankar Das is leading over BJP's candidate Rajkishore Behera by a margin of 14,561 votes by the end of the 9th round of counting in Tirtol in Jagatsinghpur district.
Similarly, BJD candidate Swarup Kumar Das is leading by a margin of 5473 votes over his nearest BJP nominee Manas Kumar Dutta in Balasore Sadar segment. BJD has so far bagged 40,749 votes while BJP has secured 35276 by the eight round of counting. Congress contestant Mamata Kundu who continues to remain in third position managed to get 2,398 votes. Independent candidate Benudhar Barik captured only 352 votes.
During seventh round of counting, there was a close contest between BJD and BJP in Balasore. However, the ruling party managed to widened its margin after the eighth round of counting