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While BJD's Rita Sahu has garnered 31,286 votes, BJP's Sanat Gartia has secured 7,921 votes. Photo/Twitter (@thewomanodisha)
BJD candidate Rita Sahu has established a lead of 23,365 votes over her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the BJP in the by-poll to Odisha's Bijepur Assembly constituency.
While Sahu has polled 31,286 votes, Gartia has secured 7,921 votes while Congress candidate Dilip Kumar Panda has garnered 1,115 votes at the end of the fourth round of counting, an election official said.
The by-election to the politically sensitive seat in Bargarh district was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had won from two seats in the Assembly polls held in April, resigned from Bijepur and retained his home-turf Hinjili in Ganjam district.
Tight security arrangements have been made for counting of votes being held at Padampur.