(Pic-Biswaranjan Mishra) (Pic-Biswaranjan Mishra)

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Oct 19:

BJD president and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik today expressed his gratitude to the people of Kandhamal for the great victory of his party's candidate Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh, who defeated her nearest rival Rudramadhab Ray of the BJP by over 2,98,000 votes in the Lok Sabha by-poll.

"I would like to thank the people of Kandhamal Lok Sabha
constituency for having bestowed the blessings so generously on the Biju Janata Dal," he told reporters here.

Patnaik said the BJD has polled more votes in the by-election than the last general elections despite a drop in polling figures and the victory margin has also gone up significantly to approximately three lakh.

"This shows the support of people of Odisha for the plans and policies to BJD government," said Patnaik.