BHUBANESWAR: Ruling BJD on Sunday won the bypoll to Pipili Assembly constituency with consumate ease without party boss and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik even having to break a sweat to secure the regional outfit’s fourth straight by-election victory since the 2019 General Elections.
Rudra Pratap Maharathy, BJD candidate and son of late Pradip Maharathy whose untimely death necessitated the poll, notched up 96,972 votes to defeat his rival Ashrit Pattanayak from the BJP with a margin of 20,916 votes. Pattanayak received 76,056 votes.
At third position, Congress continued in its downward spiral as its nominee Biswokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra polled 4,261 votes, just 2.36 per cent (pc) to lose his deposit along with seven others who were in the fray.
This is BJD’s biggest victory in Pipili and it netted 53.6 pc votes to assert its dominance. More than that, the ruling dispensation also displayed that its election-winning formula has no match. Come to think of it, Naveen did not campaign at Pipili. Setting to rest all speculations, he flew to Delhi at a crucial time leaving his team to handle the poll business.
It is for the first time that BJD has won a bypoll without its tallest leader campaigning for the party candidate. He did not even address the Pipili electorate virtually which he had done for Balasore and Jagatsinghpur bypolls. Last time the Chief Minister skipped campaigning was in 2017 panchayat polls and the results did surprise the regional party as BJP gained serious ground.
This time, a confident BJD deployed more than a dozen ministers, and MLAs were made in-charge of campaign and poll management at different levels. The poll outcome signifies that its strategic change on the run-up to key panchayat and urban elections due next year has worked and may continue. With Naveen as the face, the younger generation may be tasked with more responsibility in the days to come.A BJD spokesperson said: “The result has proved the love and blessings people have for the Chief Minister,” he said.
While the vote margin of BJD saw a 2.94 pc jump as it pocketed 53.6 pc votes, main rival BJP too improved its performance by netting 42.06 pc vote share, registering a marginal rise. BJP had launched an aggressive campaign but it was not good enough to make it count. The saffron party, however, was able to hold on to its base with aggressive campaigning by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and several other senior leaders.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishanw who was a designated star campaigner, surprisingly, did not turn up for campaigning. President of State BJP Sameer Mohanty said the bypoll result has shown that there is much public resentment against the ruling BJD despite its victory.
BJP’s performance has improved compared to the last election, he said and added that the fight to ensure that common people get their rights will continue.Chief of the Congress media cell Ganeswar Behera said the party accepts the verdict and will continue to fight for rights of the people.