The Hindu : BJD wins Birmaharajpur bypoll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003

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National

BJD wins Birmaharajpur bypoll

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR SEPT. 29. The ruling Biju Janata Dal today won the byelection in the Birmaharajpur Assembly segment in Orissa proving yet again that the party still enjoyed the support of the electorate. The polls were held on Friday.

The BJD nominee, Sanjeev Sahu, won the seat with an impressive margin of 27,141 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Pushpanjali Pradhan, Independent. While Mr. Sahu polled 56,428 votes, Ms. Pradhan bagged 29,287 votes. The Congress candidate, Ashok Purohit, was placed third with 15,104 votes, and the Republican Party of India nominee, Ghanshyam Bhoi, finished fourth with 4,428 votes. The BJD has won all the four Assembly bypolls held in the State since it came to power in February 2000. While the party has retained the Rairakhol, Nayagarh and Birmaharajpur seats, it had earlier wrested the Bhadrak segment from the Opposition Congress.

The Chief Minister and BJD president, Naveen Patnaik, who had campaigned extensively in Birmaharajpur, thanked the electorate for helping the party retain the seat. He said the ruling BJD-BJP alliance would have to work hard for the people of the State. The BJD's victory was celebrated at the party headquarters here with the bursting of crackers. Several senior leaders and Ministers belonging to the party participated in the celebration.

Mr. Sahu said that the credit for his victory should go to Mr. Patnaik.

The bypoll in Birmaharajpur was necessitated by the death of the sitting BJD MLA, Baishnab Pradhan, in a road accident a few months ago. Pushpanjali Pradhan, widow of the deceased MLA, had sought the BJD ticket for the bypoll. However, she contested as Independent after the party handed the ticket to Mr. Sahu, who had contested as a BJD rebel in the February 2000 Assembly polls.

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