BJD wrests Bijepur; Cong retains Mungaoli & Kolaras
NEW DELHI: In what could be described as a significant boost to the morale of the embattled opposition party ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections this year, the Congress has managed to retain both the Mungaoli and Kolaras constituencies, when went to bypolls on February 24.
On the other hand, the ruling Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday wrested the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha from the Congress in a by-poll, with its candidate Rita Sahu defeating her nearest rival, Ashok Panigrahi of the BJP, by 41,933 votes.
While Congress’s Brijendra Singh Yadav won by 2124 votes in Mungaoli, Mahendra Singh Yadav defeated BJP’S Devendra Jain in Kolaras.
NEW DELHI: In what could be described as major boost to the morale of the embattled opposition party ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections this year, the Congress has managed to retain both the Mungaoli and Kolaras constituencies, when went to bypolls on February 24.
On the other hand, the ruling Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday wrested the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha from the Congress in a by-poll, with its candidate Rita Sahu defeating her nearest rival, Ashok Panigrahi of the BJP, by 41,933 votes.
While Congress's Brijendra Singh Yadav won by 2124 votes in Mungaoli, Mahendra Singh Yadav defeated BJP'S Devendra Jain in Kolaras.
Both seats fall in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency that is represented by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had put in the hard yards in ensuring Congress' stranglehold in the two regions, the bypolls for which were necessitated due to the death of Congress's Mungaoli MLA Mahendra Singh Kalukheda and its Kolaras MLA Ram Singh Yadav.
However, the BJP can claim solace from the fact that the winning margins in the two seats were much less than what transpired in the 2013 Assembly elections. While Congress won by a margin of 24,953 votes in Kolaras assembly constituency, in Mungaoli it thumped BJP by 20,765 votes in the last state polls. However, this time Brijendra Singh Yadav who bagged 70,808 votes defeated his BJP rival Baisahab Yadav by just over 2000 votes. Baisahab Yadav secured 68,684 votes.
Scindia said the mandate in favour of Congress was a victory of truth and development. “People have taken a decision. It's victory of truth and development. The people of MP have already taken a decision to oust the BJP from the state. The government that had not seen the face of Mungaoli in 14 years, camped there with their entire Cabinet during election,” the Congress leader said.
Odisha Election Commission said Sahu polled 1,02,871 votes against the 60,938 secured by Panigrahi.
Pranaya Sahu of the Congress, which had held the seat three terms in a row, came third with 10,274 votes and lost his deposit. The BJP had polled 30,001 votes from Bijepur in the 2014 Assembly elections.
As many as 1,684 voters opted for the NOTA (None Of The above) option in the by-poll held on February 24, EC'S returning officer Tapiram Majhi said.
The by-election was held following the death of threetime Congress MLA Subal Sahu in August last year.
The BJD fielded his widow as its candidate, while Panigrahi left the BJD and contested from the BJP.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the Bijepur by-poll result would have an impact on future elections in the Odisha.
Patnaik thanked the people of Bijepur for the "massive victory".
"I would like to express my deep gratitude to the people of the Bijepur Assembly constituency for having showered their blessings on the BJD," he said.
Asked about pre-poll violence in Bijepur, Patnaik said Odisha was a peaceful state.
"People will not stand for violence in a democracy," he said.
Odisha's people were peace loving and had rejected the politics of hatred and violence, the chief minister tweeted. "Humbled by love and trust of the people of Bijepur for giving @ bjd_odisha a massive victory. BJD lives in the hearts of the people of Odisha," he said in his Twitter post.