Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal wrested the Bijepur assembly seat from the Congress with its candidate Rita Sahu defeating her nearest rival, Ashok Panigrahi of the BJP, by 41,933 votes.
The Election Commission said Sahu polled 1,02,871 votes against the 60,938 secured by Panigrahi.
Congress Pranaya Sahu came third with 10,274 votes and lost his deposit.
The Congress, in fact, had held the seat three terms in a row.
The by-election was held following the death of three-time 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.
The BJD winning with a wide margin of 42,000 margin is an all time record in the constitutency. The party polling 1.02 lakh votes too is a record in the constituency.
