Bhubaneswar: After winning the Padampur bypoll with a huge margin of 42,679 votes defeating her nearest rival BJP’s Pradip Purohit, Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD’s) Barsha Singh Bariha has announced to work for realizing the dreams of her late father Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha.
“I will work to realize the dreams of my late father Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha and redress the issues facing the local people,” said Bariha after her spectacular victory. She has thanked the people of Padampur for their support.
The ruling BJD retained the Padampur Assembly seat by winning the bypoll after defeating the nearest BJP rival by a huge margin of 42,679 votes.
BJD’s Barsha Singh Bariha polled 1,20,807 (58 per cent) votes, BJP candidate Pradeep Purohit managed 78,128 (37.51 per cent) votes, while Congress’ Satya Bhusan Sahu finished a distant third with only 3,594 (1.73 per cent) votes.
“BJD’s Barsha Singh Bariha won the Padampur by-election by a margin of 42,679 votes,” said Bargarh district electoral officer and collector, Monisha Banerjee.
Meanwhile, Purohit claimed that he was defeated in the bypoll as the ruling party was able to grab all the votes of Congress.
On the other hand, Congress leader Jaydev Jena alleged that a huge amount of money was distributed by the ruling party to win the bypoll.
BJD candidate Bariha secured 37,508 more votes than what her late father Bijaya Ranjan had managed in the 2019 Assembly elections.
Similarly, Purohit, who fought the 2019 poll on a BJP ticket, was able to get a little more votes this time. In 2019, Purohit had polled 77,565 votes.
On the other hand, it was a debacle for Congress in the bypoll as party nominee Sahu’s votes came down drastically. Sahu bagged 32,787 votes in the last elections held in 2019.
It shows that the BJP was able to protect its votes, while the BJD gained from Congress’ vote loss.
Both BJD and BJP had utilized their entire forces in the bypoll. This by-election was crucial for the BJD as it lost the recently-concluded Dhamnagar bypoll to BJP.
More than a dozen ministers, several MLAs, and leaders from all wings of the BJD had camped in different blocks and panchayats of the constituency to ensure victory for the party.
For the first after the 2019 general elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik campaigned for the bypoll in Padampur.
The Chief Minister had announced sops for different categories of people and had assured the public that their demand to declare Padampur as a separate district will be fulfilled in 2023.
On the other hand, the BJP also fought the poll battle with great strength. Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnav and Biseshwsar Tudu had campaigned for the by-election.
(With IANS inputs)
