In the by-election for the Baleswar Zilla Parishad Zone-26 member post held on Friday, the BJD registered an impressive victory trouncing its nearest rival, the BJP, by a margin of over 4,000 votes when the results were declared on Saturday. BJD candidate Kamal Kumar Sahu defeated Parsuram Parida of the BJP.
Manoj Nayak of the Congress, Bandana Patra of the CPI and Independent candidate Ramakanta Gudu were among those defeated.
The election assumed significance as the seat was with the BJP and it fell vacant after the incumbent BJP ZP Member Binay Das died in a road accident. It was also the first electoral battle in the district the BJD faced after Baleswar MP RK Jena became the party’s district president. Out of a total polling of 26,856 votes, the BJD polled 13,499 and the BJP and the Congress got 9,382 and 3,187, respectively. As many as 534 votes were invalid.
In the last ZP elections, the seat had been won by Binay Das by a margin of over 3,000 votes defeating his nearest BJD rival.
Another important aspect of Friday’s by-election was that the BJD gained a comfortable edge over the BJP and the Congress in all the seven GPs which went for the poll. The GPs Patrapada, Srikona, Chandipur, Parikhi, Hidigaon, Ranasahi and Sargaon.
The by-poll results were a major setback for the BJP as three GPs, Hidigaon, Ranasahi and Sargaon, are under the Remuna Assembly constituency, which is represented by its Gobinda Das.
“People have reposed their faith once again on our Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his pro-people works. I express my deep gratitude to the people,” said MP Jena.