The ruling BJD retained Ward-19 (reserved for women) of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the byelection for which was held on Friday. BJD candidate Manasirani Sundaray won the bypoll by a margin of 1,220 votes over her nearest Congress rival Sasmita Swain. The poll results were announced on Saturday.
The turnout for the bypoll was one of the poorest with only 2,961 voters constituting less than 20 per cent of the electorate of 15,132 cast votes. The by-election was a prestige issue for the BJD after its setback in the elections to all the three Notified Area Councils (NACs) held recently.
After her victory, Sundaray accompanied by the three city MlAs met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and sought his blessings.
BJP candidate Kunirani Mohapatra and independent candidate Minati Sethy miserably performed in the bypoll, which was necessitated by the death of the then BJD corporator Sanghamitra Samal.
It was alleged that the ruling BJD members including some MlAs and Ministers used massive money power to woo voters.
The Congress has filed a petition with the State Election Commission alleging the BJD’s “vote for note” campaign.