The result of the by-election to the Kuarmunda-A Zilla Parishad has taken political watchers by surprise. Though this seat was not under the BJD grip, a large number of Ministers, MlAs, MP and other frontline BJD leaders campaigned in the bypoll which was held on September 29.
The way the BJD took the campaign to an unbelievable height, the election ultimately turned out to be a proxy contest between the Naveen Patnaik team and Biramitrapur Independent MlA George Tirkey. It was a battle for the BJD to restore its popularity after the 2014 general elections.
Similarly, when the elections to the Rourkela Municipal Corporation are likely to be held any time now, the Zilla Parishad bypoll result was also considered to be significant. It was because in 2014 election out of four Assembly segments under the Rourkela BJD district, the party had own only one seat, Raghunathpali. It was also considered that the result of the by-election was to re-strengthen the position of Rourkela BJD leader Sarada Nayak.
Despite the all-out efforts of the BJD, George Torkey’s candidate Bilasi Barjo polled 12,994 votes out of 23,719 polled while BJD nominee Goreti Kiro got only 7,762 in the ZP by-election.
The result is also a warning bell for the BJP in the Sundargarh district. In spite of the fact that the party stalwart Dilip Ray is the Rourkela MlA and Sundargarh MP Jual
Oram is a Central Minister, the BJP candidate Anita Soren managed to get only 364 votes.The Congress nominee Susmta Baxla got 1,353 votes.