BJD wins Bijepur byelection

Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday won the bypoll in Bijepur Assembly seat in Bargarh district with an impressive margin of over 40,000 votes.

The party’s Ritarani Sahu bagged a total of 1,02,871 votes, while Ashok Panigrahi of BJP came second with 60,938 votes and Pranaya Sahu of Congress got only 10,272 votes after all the 21 rounds of counting.

Although a formal announcement about the outcome of the bypoll was likely to be made by the Election Commission after tabulation of the counting data, Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik thanked the people of Bijepur for electing party nominee Ms.Sahu.

Waving a victory sign, Mr. Patnaik termed the bypoll outcome a “rejection” of violence by the people of Bijepur. “Odisha is a peaceful State; the people will not stand for violence in a democracy,” he added.

Mr. Patnaik was apparently hinting at a series of incidents in the run up to the bypoll, including slipper attack on him during an election meeting in Bijepur and murderous attack on State Labour Minister’s brother. The BJD had then accused BJP of its involvement in these incidents.

The clean image of the Chief Minister and the State government’s various developmental works as well as her late husband Subal Sahu’s popularity helped her win the bypoll, Ms. Sahu told presspersons. “I will work for the all-round development of the people in our area and strive hard to fulfill my husband’s dream,” she added.

The Bijepur seat had fallen vacant after the death Congress legislator Subal Sahu in August last year. Ms. Sahu had joined the BJD after a month of her husband’s death and Mr. Patnaik announced her name as party’s nominee for the bypoll.

Ashok Panigrahi, a former BJD legislator had joined BJP in October last. The late Sahu was a prominent local leader of Congress.