In what can be termed as a sort of morale booster for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the Bijepur Assembly by-election, the party registered victory in by-polls in two wards in Paradip and Pattamundai on Wednesday.
In the bypoll for the post of Councillor of the Paradip Municipality’s Ward-6, BJD candidate Rashmita Das defeated her nearest rival Gayatri Nayak of the BJP by 58 votes.
The post had fallen vacant after the death of Manjulata Jena on May 30 last year. All eyes were on the result of the by-poll, especially after the dismissal of BJD Paradip MLA Damodar Rout from the Naveen Patnaik Ministry about a month ago.
In the Pattamundai Municipality’s Ward-17 by-poll, BJD candidate Ranjit Mallick won defeating his nearest Congress rival by 92 votes.