Bhubaneswar, Nov 10 (IANS): The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates continued to lead in the counting of votes polled in the bypolls to Balasore and Tirtol Assembly constituencies in Odisha, said an election official on Tuesday.

BJD's Bijay Shankar Das was leading over BJP candidate Rajkishore Behera by 24,697 votes in Tirtol seat in Jagatsinghpur district.

By the end of 16th round, Das had polled 54,290 votes while Behera had secured 29,593 votes.

Congress candidate Himansu Bhusan Mallick has managed to get 14,084 votes, said an official.

In the Balasore seat, BJD candidate Swarup Das was leading by 7,083 votes against rival BJP candidate Manas Kumar Dutta by the end of 17th round.

Swarup Das polled 56,309 votes while Dutta bagged 50,201 votes. Congress candidate Mamata Kundu got 3,713 votes.

The bypolls in the two constituencies were held on November 3. The by-elections were necessitated following the death of BJP MLA Madan Mohan Dutta in Balasore and BJD MLA Bishnu Charan Das in Tirtol.