Dhamnagar: Sympathy wave, division of votes help BJP end BJD’s winning run in bypolls

The BJP riding on a sympathy wave for its candidate, the son of the party’s deceased leader, and helped by a division of BJD votes on account of a rebel, coasted to a clear victory in the estuarine Dhamnagar constituency of Odisha on Sunday.

BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj, son of late party MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, defeated his nearest BJD rival Abanti Das by 9,881 votes. While Suraj secured 80,351 votes, Das got 70,470 votes, according to the Election Commission.

Besides retaining the seat, the saffron party ended the ruling BJD’s winning run in by-polls since 2019 when it came to power for the fifth consecutive term in the state.

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While BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the result was “expected”, senior BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan asserted that the result reflects people’s trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP won the by-election by 9,881 votes, more than double compared to its margin of 4,625 votes in the 2019 assembly polls, while its vote share increased from 47.47 per cent to 49.1 per cent.

The ruling BJD which did not field Rajendra Das, its 2019 candidate, at the constituency in Bhadrak district saw its vote share decline to 43.1 per cent this time from 45.67 per cent three years ago.

Das who had secured 75,486 votes in 2019 contested as an independent candidate this time and bagged 8,153 votes, according to the Election Commission data.

Adding the votes polled for BJD’s official nominee Abanti Das (70,470) and its rebel candidate Rajendra Das (8,153), one gets 78,623 votes, a figure close to what the BJP’s Suryabanshi Suraj secured - 80,351 votes.

The death of Suraj’s father, BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi, necessitated the by-election. Sethi bagged 80,111 votes to defeat Rajendra Das in 2019.

Suraj, a greenhorn in electoral politics, apparently got a portion of Congress votes too. The party’s nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi got only 3,561 votes, a mere 2.18 per cent of the total votes polled. Its candidate Bidyadhar Jena had secured 7,303 three years back. However, both lost their deposits.

Another independent candidate Pabitra Mohan Das bagged 497 votes (0.3 per cent) while a total of 650 voters opted for NOTA.

While the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was affected by factional fights, the BJP put up a united show in Dhamnagar.

“Though the MLAs campaigned for the party candidate Abanti Das, it seems they had done it out of compulsion,” a senior BJD leader said.

The chief minister, though named in the list of star campaigners, did not come to campaign for the party candidate in person and preferred to address a meeting virtually.

On the other hand, BJP president J P Nadda during his visit to Odisha on September 30 attended a meeting held to pay respect to ex-MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi. Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bisheswar Tudu also campaigned in favour of Suraj.

Besides, Suraj got sympathy votes. Dhamnagar has a history of family members of deceased politicians clinching by-polls.

In the first-ever by-poll in the Dhamnagar assembly segment in 1961, people elected ex-MLA Muralidhar Jena’s wife Satyabhama Dei. In 1990 when the constituency went for a by-election for the second time, Manas Mallick, son of deceased MLA Hrudananda Mallick, was elected. Suraj becomes the third candidate in the series.

“We have lost very few by-elections. I always respect the verdict of the people. MLA Bishnu Sethi died recently and he was quite popular. BJP held the seat for a number of years. His son was given the ticket. It was expected that they would win,” the chief minister said.

His party had won all five by-elections in Bijepur, Balasore, Tirtol, Pipili and Brajrajnagar since 2019.

Pradhan tweeted: ”It is also the victory of youth and women. Gratitude to the people of Dhamnagar for reposing their faith in BJP, for honouring the legacy of Late Biishnu Bhai and for blessing Suraj.”

Suraj said he is overwhelmed by the love and affection given to him by the people of Dhamnagar. “Now this victory has brought a challenge to develop Dhamnagar,” he said.

The win is likely to boost party workers to fight the BJD before another by-poll in the Padmapur constituency slated for December 5 and the assembly elections due in 2024.