Inflicting a huge blow to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Dhamnagar Assembly by-election in Bhadrak district by a margin of 9,881 votes.
With this, the BJP also put a check on the BJD’s trend of winning all earlier by-polls since 2019.
BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj polled 80,351 votes against the BJD nominee Abanti Das’ 70,470. Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi got 3,561 votes while BJD rebel and Independent candidate Rajendra Kumar Das bagged 8,153.
The results of the by-poll, which had been held on November 3, were announced on Sunday.
Two factors mainly contributed to the BJP’s victory. First, BJD rebel Rajendra Das cut into the party’s vote base; and second, there was sympathy for Suraj, the death of whose sitting MLA-father Bishnu Sethi, a popular leader, necessitated the by-poll.
Moreover, the BJP has a good organisational network in the constituency and the party’s leaders, including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, mounted a sustained campaigning for its candidate.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made a last-minute appeal to the electorate through virtual mode to vote for the BJD nominee.
The BJP expects that the Dhamnagar outcome will influence the by-election to the Padampur Assembly in Bargarh district scheduled to be held on December 5. The Padampur by-poll is necessary following the death of incumbent BJD MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha.