Bhubaneawar, November 6: BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj won the Dhamnagar Assembly bypoll in against his nearest rival, Abanti Das of the ruling BJD by 9,881 votes on Sunday.
Suraj, the son of late MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, whose demise necessitated the by-elections, got 80,351 votes, while Das secured 70,470 votes for the Dhamnagar bypoll in Odisha’s Bhadrak district.
Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi got only 3,561 votes. The counting was done amid three-tier security arrangement.
At least 68.98 per cent of the constituency’s 2,38,417 voters had cast their votes in 252 booths of Dhamnagar on November 3.
Meanwhile, BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that it was expected that they (BJP) would win.
“We have lost very few by-elections. I always respect the verdict of the people. MLA Bisnu Charan Sethi died recently & he was quite popular. BJP held the seat for a number of years. His son was given the ticket. It was expected that they would win,” said Patnaik during a programme in Bhubaneswar.
Asked whether he can win a sixth term, Patnaik said, “Our Government remains constantly concerned with development in the state and of course, the welfare of our people.”
“I’m sure people will bless us once again,” asserted the five-time Chief Minister.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan described the victory as the victory of democracy.
“People are with truth. It’s a victory of truth and democracy. People of Odisha have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Pradhan at the BJP headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
