BARGARH: BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik won Bijepur Assembly seat. Four other Assembly segments of the district also went into BJD kitty. It was a clean sweep for the BJD in the district as it bagged all the five Assembly segments.
Naveen defeated his nearest rival Sanat Kumar Gartia of BJP by a margin of 56,533 votes.
The constituency saw by-election after the demise of sitting Congress MLA Subal Sahu. In the by-election for Bijepur, BJD candidate Rita Sahu, widow of Subal Sahu, defeated her nearest rival Ashok Panigrahi of the BJP by a huge margin of 41,933 votes.
In Bargarh Assembly segment, Debesh Acharya of BJD retained the seat defeating his nearest rival Ashwini Kumar Sarangi of BJP by a margin of 8,676 votes. While Debesh got 73,599 votes, Ashwini managed to get 64,923 votes. Nipon Dash of Congress got 15,951 votes.
Debesh was elected from the seat in 2014 polls defeating Sadhu Nepak of Congress by a margin of 13,204 votes.
In Attabira Assembly seat, BJD candidate Snehangini Chhuria defeated Milan Seth of BJP by a margin of 23,233 votes. While Snehangini got 82,013 votes, Milan managed to get 58,780 votes. Nihar Mahanand of Congress got 20,983 votes.
In 2014 elections, Snehangini had won Attabira seat defeating Nihar of Congress by a margin of 25,474 votes. While Snehangini got 69,602 votes, Nihar managed to get 44,128 votes. Milan of BJP got 33,735 votes.
In Bhatli Assembly seat, Susanta Singh of BJD defeated Irasis Acharya of BJP by a margin of 23,330 votes and won the seat third time in a row. While Susanta got 98, 385 votes, Irasis managed to get 75,055 votes. Saroj Mohapatra of Congress got 8,338 votes. Susanta had bagged the seat in 2014 elections defeating Independent candidate Sushanta Mishra by a margin of 37,581 votes.
In Padampur, senior BJD leader Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha bagged the seat for the fifth time defeating sitting BJP MLA Pradip Purohit by a margin of 6,355 votes. In Rairakhol Assembly seat, Rohit Pujari of BJD retained the seat defeating his nearest rival Asaf Ali Khan of Congress by a margin of 14,675 votes.