Bhubaneswar, October 3: Ruling BJD candidate Rudrapratap Maharathy won the Pipili by-poll on Sunday, defeating his nearest rival Ashrit Pattnaik of the BJP by over 20,000 votes, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said.
Maharathy secured 96,972 votes, while Pattnaik bagged 76,056 votes. Congress nominee Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra got 4,261 votes, the EC said.
Total ten candidates were in the fray for the by-poll, which was necessitated by the death of sitting BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathy in October last year due to post COVID-19 complications.
Subsequently, the ruling party pitted Maharathy’s son Rudrapratap Maharathy.
The Election Commission of India had deferred polling thrice due to various reasons. The by-poll was initially scheduled for April 17 but rescheduled to May 16 after the death of Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj due to Covid-19. The by-election was then deferred further due to the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
