Bhubaneswar, May 13 (PTI) Ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate Dipali Das was ahead of her BJP rival Tankadhar Tripathy by 15,751 votes after the sixth round of counting in the by-election to Odisha's Jharsuguda assembly seat on Saturday, an election official said.

According to ECI official, the BJD candidate secured 35,609 votes while the BJP candidate got 19,858 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey was in third place with 1,948 votes as the counting of votes progressed.

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Of the total nine candidates, the contest is now between the BJD and the BJP candidate.

The counting of votes began here amid tight security at 8 AM. The counting started with postal ballots and EVM votes were later counted. The votes are being counted on 14 tables and the counting will be done in as many as 18 rounds.

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Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said that the counting process is likely to be completed by the afternoon.

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 2.21 lakh voters had exercised their franchise on May 10.

The by-poll was held following the assassination of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29 allegedly by a police officer.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 113 members, and the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs, respectively. The CPI(M) has one member and there is one Independent legislator.

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