Odisha bypolls 2019: BJD candidate Rita Sahu establishes lead of more than 23,000 votes over BJP's Sanat Gartia in Bijepur

Bhubaneswar: 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. [caption id=“attachment_4491841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Twitter @Naveen_Odisha[/caption] For LIVE updates on the By-elections 2019, click here 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.