BJD’s bypoll march continues

BHUBANESWAR: The BJD’s triumph in Pipili assembly bypoll on Sunday reaffirmed party president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s dominance in state politics. What more, since the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, Naveen’s BJD has won all four assembly bypolls with an increasing vote share.
On October 21, 2019, Bijepur went to bypoll with the byelections to Balasore Sadar and Tirtol assembly constituencies being held on November 3, 2020 and Pipili bypoll held on Thursday.
Naveen, who had campaigned through virtual mode in the run-up to the Balasore and Tirtol bypoll during the middle of the Covid pandemic last year, did not hit the campaign trail for Pipili bypoll. On the other hand, some BJP heavyweights, including Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and party’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra had conducted roadshows in Pipili for their candidate, Ashrit Pattanayak.
“People have continuously blessing the BJD because of the pro-people and development work being undertaken by our chief minister Naveen Patnaik,” BJD general secretary Manas Mangaraj said.
Political analysts feel the opposition BJP and Congress have not been able to dent Naveen’s popularity. “Brand Naveen and his clean image continue to hold sway. Besides, the strategies they adopt have been helping the party sweep the polls. A weak opposition and the leadership crisis in the region, including Pipili, helped the BJD to prosper,” retired political science lecturer S N Tripathy said.
It must be noted that BJD candidate Rita Sahu had won the Bijepur byelection by a record margin of 97,990 votes against BJP’s Sanat Gartia. The margin was the highest ever in BJD’s electoral history. The by-election was necessitated after chief minister Naveen Patnaik vacated the seat and retained Hinjili in the 2019 assembly election. Rita had polled 1.35 lakh votes in the bypoll, far more compared to the 1.10 lakh that Naveen had got in the seat in April 2019.
Bijepur was once a Congress stronghold. Congresss’ Subal Sahu had been representing Bijepur assembly constituency since 2004 until his death in August 2017. The BJD gave a jolt to the Congress by inducting his wife Rita into the party fold. Rita had won the Bijepur by-poll in February 2018 as well.
The Balasore Sadar seat, which was won by BJP’s Madan Mohan Dutta in 2019, went to the BJD when the bypoll was held in November last year following his demise. BJD candidate Swarup Kumar Das defeated BJP’s Manas Dutta, son of the late BJP MLA. The BJD, which had stood second with 38.79% votes in 2019, won the seat with an impressive 51.8% votes in the bypoll.
In Tirtol bypoll, BJD’s Bijaya Shankar Das secured 88,310 votes, defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Rajkishore Behera by a margin of 41,703 votes. A total of 46,607 votes were polled in the favour of Behera.
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