Newly elected Nuapada MLA Jay Dholakia takes oath in Odisha Assembly

Jay Dholakia, the newly elected MLA from Nuapada took the oath of office and secrecy at the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Thursday. Speaker Surama Padhy administered the oath to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator.

Dholakia recently secured a resounding victory in the Nuapada by-election, winning by a margin of over 83,000 votes. His induction formally marks his entry into the House, strengthening the BJP’s presence in the Assembly.

Dholakia’s mother, wife along with senior leaders of BJP were present during the oath taking ceremony.

Notably, Dholakia polled 1,23,869 votes, emerging far ahead of his nearest competitor, and Congress candidate Ghasi Ram Majhi, who finished second with 40,121 votes. Snehangini Chhuria of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), who secured 38,408 votes and finished third, failed to make any significant impact on the electoral outcome.

The bypoll was necessitated by the untimely demise of former BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia earlier this year.

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The voting for the Nuapada bypoll was conducted on November 11, and 83.45 per cent voter turnout was recorded. Out of 2,54,497 registered voters, 2,12,380, including 1,03,817 men, 1,08,563 women, and five transgenders exercised their franchise across 358 polling booths.