Dhamnagar remains saffron, setback for BJD

BHUBANESWAR/BHADRAK: In a major blow to the BJD, the BJP riding on a sympathy wave and taking advantage of the factional fight in the rival camp, won the Dhamnagar bypoll, result of which was declared on Sunday.BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj, the son of late party MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, defeated his BJD rival Abanti Das by a margin of 9,881 votes. While Suraj secured 80,351 votes, Das got 70,470 votes. 

Congress candidate Baba Harekrushna Sethi and two independents Rajendra Kumar Das and Pabitra Mohan Das lost their deposits. While the Congress candidate could get only 3,561 votes, less than half of the party’s 7,303 votes in the 2019 election, the BJD rebel Rajendra Das received 8,153 votes. While another independent Pabitra got 497 votes, 650 voters stamped on NOTA.

With the setback in Dhamnagar, the BJD has for the first time lost a bypoll after 2019, when it came to power for the fifth consecutive term in the state. While BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the result was ‘expected’, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asserted that it reflects people’s trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Suraj said he is overwhelmed by the love and affection given to him by the people of Dhamnagar. “Now, this victory has brought a challenge to develop Dhamnagar,” he said. Rajendra said voters of Dhamnagar proved that the conch symbol and the image of party supremo is not the sole factor for victory. He alleged that a BJD leader who had worked against the party and was responsible for his defeat in the last Assembly election continued his anti-party activities in this election too.

A senior BJD leader requesting anonymity said that though the MLAs campaigned for the party candidate, it seems they had done it out of compulsion. The BJD had won all five by-elections in Bijepur, Balasore, Tirtol, Pipili and Brajrajnagar after 2019.