In a jolt to major political parties, an Independent candidate Bhajananand Khamari defeated his rival Subrat Kumar Chand of BJD by a margin of 156 votes in the bypoll to Ward No 3 of Hirakud NAC. The results were declared on Saturday.
Khamari got 410 votes while Subrat managed to grab 254 votes followed by 248 votes to Hara Pradhan of BJP.
This apart, Congress candidate Sujit Kumar Luha got only 35 votes while Independent candidates Makardhwaj Pradhan and Ashok Kalo managed to get 34 and eight votes receptively.