like two earlier Assemblies, the upcoming 15th State Assembly will also have presence of a lone left MlA as Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s laxman Munda won the Bonai Assembly seat in Sundargarh district.
Munda defeated his nearest BJD rival Dayanidhi Kissan by a margin of 1,818 votes. Apart from Munda, three others, Samata Kranti Dal’s George Tirkey (Biramitrapur) and Independents Umamant Samantaray (Satyabadi) and Sanatan Mahakud (Champua) have been elected to the Assembly. Tirkey grabbed the Biramitrapur seat by defeating his nearest BJP rival Shankar Oram by nearly 12,000 votes.
The Satyabadi seat, which was of much discussion as Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan was again in the fray there, was snatched away by Samantaray. Harichandan was reduced to the third position. Samantaray defeated his nearest BJD rival Rama Ranjan Baliarshingh by a margin of 1,532 votes. While Samantaray got 48, 319 votes, Baliarsingh and Harichandan garnered 46,787 and 25,905 votes, respectively.
The Champua seat witnessed a dtiff fight between two Independent candidates while noted cine artist Papu Pompom (Tattwa Prakash Satpathy) was pushed to a distant third slot.Independent candidate Sanatan Mahakud won the seat by a margin of over 15,000 voters defeating his nearest Independent challenger Kusha Apat.