Ruling BJD candidates widened their leads in both the Assembly seats, where counting of votes polled in the November 3 by-elections is under way on November 10, Election Commission officials said.
BJD’s Bijaya Shankar Das was leading over BJP candidate Rajkishore Behera by 27,665 votes in Tirtol seat in Jagatsinghpur district, they said.
Mr. Das polled 60,889 votes after 18 rounds of counting, while Mr. Behera has bagged 33,224 votes. Congress nominee Himanshu Bhushan Mallick has got 15,325 votes.
In Balasore, BJD nominee Swarup Kumar Das was leading over his nearest BJP rival Manas Kumar Dutta by 7,364 votes.
Mr. Das bagged 63,733 votes after 19 rounds of counting, while Mr. Dutta followed with 56,369 votes. Congress candidate Mamata Kundu was at third place with 4,027 votes.
The deaths of Balasore’s BJP MLA Madan Mohan Dutta and Tirtol’s BJD legislator Bishnu Charan Das necessitated the by-elections.
