Biju Janata Dal's Rita Sahu won the Bijepur assembly bypoll on Wednesday with a margin of close to 42,000 votes over the nearest candidate from BJP.

After 21 rounds of counting, Sahu polled 1,02,871 votes while BJP's Ashok Panigrahy was a distant second at 60,938 votes. Congress candidate Pranay Sahu was relegated to an also ran and secured 10,274 votes.

Hailing his party candidate’s victory, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the outcome of the polls would have an impact on the general elections in 2019.


The BJD won a staggering 56 per cent of the polled votes, while the BJP won 33.53 per cent and the Congress a mere 5.65 per cent, said Mr Majhi.

The Bijepur result assumes significance, particularly for the BJD, BJP and the Congress as it is seen as a precursor to the 2019 general elections.

The results proved that the popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik remains intact despite an aggressive campaign by the BJP, which failed to capitalise on its advantages from the panchayat polls.

Watch Bijepur By-election results - BJD in Celebratio.