BJD respects people’s verdict in Dhamnagar bypoll: Odisha CM

Priya Ranjan Swain Published On : Nov 6, 2022 at 8:36 PM Updated On : Nov 6, 2022 at 8:32 PM

Bhubaneswar: Reacting to the outcome of Dhamnagar bypoll in Odisha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said his party respects the people’s verdict.

“I respect the verdict of people. The BJP MLA died recently. He was quite popular in Dhamnagar. His son was given the ticket. The BJP had held the seat for a number of years in the past. So, it was expected that they would win the seat,” said Patnaik while commenting on the bypoll results.

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The Chief Minister further said the BJD has lost only a few by-elections since it came to power in Odisha in 2020. “The BJD has won the president posts of all 30 Zilla Parishads in Odisha recently. The BJP has emerged as the second largest party in the state in the last few years. The Congress party is still there,” said the Chief Minister.

It is worth mentioning here that the BJP has managed to retain Dhamnagar Assembly seat in Bhadrak district in a keenly contested bye-election, the results of which were declared today.

BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj defeated BJD nominee Abanti Das by a margin of 9,881 votes. The BJP candidate secured 80,351 votes while BJD nominee got 70,470 votes.

Former MLA Raju Das, who fought the bye-election as an independent candidate following the denial of BJD ticket, got the third position by securing 8,153 votes. Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi came fourth with 3,561 votes.

Dhamnagar went for a bypoll on November 3 due to the death of sitting MLA Bishnu Sethi, who had won the seat on a BJP ticket in 2019.

The BJP fielded Sethi’s son Suryabanshi Suraj in the bypoll to cash in on the sympathy factor while BJD picked Abanti Das to attract the women voters.

The sympathy factor helped BJP to retain Dhamnagar seat while the rebellion of former legislator Raju Das marred the prospects of BJD candidate in the bypoll, said a political observer.

In 2019 Assembly election, BJP candidate Bishnu Sethi had defeated then BJD nominee Raju Das by a margin of 4,625 votes. Sethi had secured 80,111 votes while Das was polled 75,486 votes.