Bhubaneswar: Counting of votes for the by-election to Jharsuguda assembly seat will begin at 8 AM on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said here on Friday.
Though there are nine candidates, the contest was restricted to three candidates – Deepali Das of the ruling BJD, Tarun Pandey of the Congress and Tankadhar Tripathy of the BJP.
The outcome of the by-poll will not have any impact on the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by Naveen Patnaik as the party enjoys a comfortable majority.
Altogether 79.21 per cent of the 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise on March 10.
“All arrangements are in place for the counting of votes at the Engineering School premises in Jharsuguda. There will be 18 complete rounds and one partial round. Postal ballots will be counted first,” the CEO said.
Jharsuguda District Collector Aboli Sunil Naravane and Superintendent of Police Parmar Smit Parshottamdas said arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of counting and maintenance of law and order.
The by-poll was held following the assassination of health minister Naba Kisore Das on January 29 allegedly by a police officer.
In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD now has 113 members the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs respectively. The CPI(M) has one member and there is one independent legislator.
