In the midst of strict security measures, vote counting for the by-election to the Jharsuguda assembly seat in Odisha started at 8 am on Saturday, an official said.
Despite the fact that there were nine candidates in the running, only Deepali Das of the BJD government, Tarun Pandey of the Congress, and Tankadhar Tripathy of the BJP were able to compete.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) administration led by Naveen Patnaik won't be impacted by the by-election results since the party has a solid majority.
On March 10, a total of 79.21% of 2.21 lakh eligible voters cast a ballot.
The by-election was organized in response to the January 29 suspected murder of health minister Naba Kisore Das by a police officer.
“Everything is set up for the vote tallying at the Engineering School location in Jharsuguda. There will be one half round and 18 full rounds. Postal votes will be tallied first, according to Friday's statement from Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal.
The BJD has 113 representatives in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, while the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and 9 representatives, respectively. There is one CPI(M) lawmaker and one Independent legislator.
