BHUBANESWAR/ATHGARH: The BJD continued its winning streak with a convincing victory in the Athgarh by-poll where former minister Ranendra Pratap Swain won defeating his nearest Congress rival Suresh Chandra Mohapatra by 47,390 votes. Four-time MLA Swain polled 87,604 votes while Mohapatra, general secretary of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), garnered 40,214 votes, an official in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office here said.BJP’s Bikram Dash got 2,452 votes in the seven-cornered contest. The Athgarh constituency is in Cuttack district where voting was held on March 18 and counting done on Wednesday.Swain, popularly known as ‘Raja’, was not allowed to contest the 2009 general elections from the constituency although he was the official nominee of the ruling BJD. His nomination papers were rejected by the then returning officer of the constituency in a blow to Raja and his supporters.However, Raja moved the Orissa High Court which upheld his plea and ordered fresh election. The Supreme Court later upheld the HC verdict. The five candidates, including Bikram Dash, lost their deposits. The votes polled by independent candidates are, Gagan Bihari Rout (Samrudhha Odisha)-775, Bijay Biswal (Ind)-322, Bratati Chatterjee (Utkal Bharati)-577 and Bhagirathi Rout (Ind)-1,108.The election result, however, has some solace for the Congress which suffered four consecutive defeats. The Congress had lost the elections for the Kendrapara NAC, by-poll to the Umerkote Assembly constituency and the Zilla Parishad elections.The vote share of the Congress has increased manifold compared to last election. Congress candidate in the 2009 election Subas Mohanty had polled 7,376 votes. But the vote share of the BJP has dipped further. BJP candidate Rama Narayan Mohanty had garnered 3,355 votes.BJD-backed independent Ramesh Rout, who polled 68,836 votes, had defeated Bichitrananda Muduli, Independent, in the 2009 polls. Muduli had secured 43,291 votes.
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