Bhubaneswar, June 3: Ruling BJD candidate Alaka Mohanty continued to lead over her rivals in Congress and BJP as the counting of votes continued for the Brajrajnagar assembly by-election on Friday afternoon. At the end of 16 rounds, Mohanty was leading by a margin of 54,096 votes after securing 75,317 votes, as per Election Commission data.

Her nearest Congress rival Kishore Patel got 21,221 votes, while BJP candidate Radharani Panda was in third place with 18,897 votes. The bypoll was necessitated as MLA Kishore Mohanty, the husband of the BJD candidate, died in December last year.

This is the first time since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls that the BJP was struggling at the third spot, with the Congress coming up in the second spot.

Four more rounds of counting are left, officials said. As the BJD took an unassailable lead, party workers started celebrations with crackers and beating drums. Thrikkakara By-Election Result 2022: Vote Counting Underway for Bypoll, Congress Candidate Uma Thomas Leads in Postal Ballots.

The counting of votes is underway since 8 am at the Jharsuguda Engineering College. A three-tier security arrangement, comprising CRPF, State Armed Police and District Executive Force, is in place at the counting centre, Jharsuguda SP Rahul Jain said.