BHUBANESWAR: The maiden of foray of Sanjeev Marik, former Odisha director general of police (DGP) into electoral politics has ended unsuccessfully. Marik who contested the by-poll to Godda assembly constituency in Jharkhand has been defeated.
The former DGP who polled 18,337 votes was in third place behind the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidates. Amit Kumar Mandal (BJP) won from the seat by defeating his RJD rival Sanjay Prasad Yadav by 34,551 votes. While Mandal polled 83,987 votes, Yadav got 49,436 votes.
A total of 15 candidates including 10 independents were in the fray from the constituency for the by-poll. Marik had joined JMM a few weeks before he was announced party candidate from the Godda constituency.