By Our Correspondent
PURI/BHUBANESWAR/PIPILI: Rudra Maharathy of BJD won the pipili bye polls by near about 20,622 votes.After counting of votes in final 26 rounds, the BJD candidate Rudra Maharathy has managed to bag 96,392 votes against BJP’s Ashrit Pattanayak with 75,770 votes. Congress nominee Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra was placed in third position with only 4,237 votes.
The counting of votes for the Pipili bypoll had began at 8 AM amid tight security and strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
10 candidates including Maharathy of ruling BJD, Pattanayak of BJP and Harichandan of Congress were in race while BJD retained the seat.
A total of 62 government officials were engaged for counting the votes at 14 tables in three halls at Penthakata warehouse in Puri. Besides, three additional assistant returning officers were appointed for counting of votes while the process will be supervised by an election observer.
