Bhubaneswar: The counting of votes for Nuapada Assembly by-election in Odisha will be done on November 14 (Friday). The Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Nuapada district administration have made elaborate arrangement for counting of votes for the bypoll.

The counting is scheduled to begin at 8 am on Friday. It will be conducted in 26 rounds. The postal ballots will be counted first while the counting of EVM votes will commence at 8.30 am, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, RS Gopalan.

“The counting will be done at 14 tables. The VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling booths will be tallied with the EVM votes as part of the transparency measures suggested by the ECI. The entire counting process will be monitored through CCTV cameras. Besides, the process will be video-recorded,” added the CEO.

Adequate number of security personnel have been deployed at the counting venue. The officials will share the results of each round to the media, said the CEO.

Also Read:Nuapada bypoll: A prestige battle for ruling BJP and Oppn BJD, Congress

It is worth mentioning here that 83.45 per cent voters had exercised their franchise in the November 11 Nuapada bypoll.

Of the 2,54,497 registered voters, 2,12,380 voters including 1,03,817 men and 1,08, 563 women had exercised their franchise at 358 polling booths.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia on September 8. Dholakia’s son Jay Dholakia is contesting the bypoll on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket while former minister Snehnagini Chhuria is trying her luck as a BJD nominee. Tribal leader Ghasiram Majhi is the Congress candidate for the bypoll.

Outcome of Nuapada bypoll crucial for three major political parties in Odisha

Altogether 14 candidates, including eight independent nominees, are in the fray for the by-election. The outcome of the bypoll is crucial for ruling BJP as well as Opposition BJD and Congress party in Odisha.

The victory of BJP candidate in the bypoll would be perceived as a popular referendum for the initiatives of the Mohan Charan Majhi-led government in the state. A positive result in the by-election is likely to strengthen the position as well the influence of Majhi in the state politics, said a political observer.

Also Read: Odisha: 14 candidates to fight it out in Nuapada bypoll

“The Nuapada bypoll is a litmus test for BJD and its supremo Naveen Patnaik, a five-time former Chief Minister in Odisha. The importance of BJD in Odisha politics will be dented further if the party fails to retain Nuapada seat in the bypoll,” he added.

The outcome of the bypoll is likely to impact the revival plan of Congress party in Odisha. Any good performance in the bypoll will encourage the Congress party to reclaim its lost ground in the state. However, poor performance in Nuapada is likely to cause significant damage to the leadership of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das, a former Lok Sabha MP from Kalahandi, said the political observer.