BJP’s Bijoy Mohapatra and BJD nominee Sabitri Agarwal. (Source: Twitter)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD on Wednesday registered a comfortable victory in the Patklura election. Party’s Sabitri Agarwalla, widow of former MLA Bed Prakash Agarwal clinched the seat with 96,017 votes, ahead of the BJP’s 78,097 votes. The Congress meanwhile, suffered yet another rout in Odisha.
The election has attracted considerable attention as BJP’s Bijoy Mohapatra is considered an influential figure in coastal Odisha politics. Mohapatra, a powerful minister in former CM Biju Patnaik’s government and one of the founding members of the BJD in the nineties, fell out with Naveen Patnaik. Mohapatra, along with another Biju era heavyweight politician Dilip Ray, subsequently joined the BJP.
Incidentally, Mohapatra had recently rejoined the BJP after resigning from the saffron party in December.
Explained | How Patkura election result trends signal that Odisha may be headed for a bipolar polity
Polling in Patkura Assembly seat was initially scheduled for April 29, but it could not be held because of the death of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwal on April 20. The ECI had then fixed May 19 as the new date for the polls in Patkura. However, it was further postponed following Cyclone Fani that barreled through the state’s coastal districts.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. (File photo)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD on Wednesday registered a comfortable victory in the Patklura election. Party’s Sabitri Agarwalla, widow of former MLA Bed Prakash Agarwal clinched the seat with 96,017 votes, ahead of the BJP’s 78,097 votes. The Congress meanwhile, suffered yet another rout in Odisha.
Bijoy Mohapatra, a powerful minister in former CM Biju Patnaik’s government and one of the founding members of the BJD in the nineties, fell out with Naveen Patnaik. He, along with influential politician Dilip Ray, subsequently joined the BJP. Mohapatra quit and then rejoined the BJD ahead of the general election and was given a ticket from Patkura.
Several BJD leaders say that for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Patkura is a prestige battle. “One reason is to keep out (BJP candidate) Bijoy Mohapatra (from the Assembly). Secondly, BJD will do everything to score yet another victory in its bastion of Kendrapara,” said a BJD MP.
While BJD's Sabitri Agarwal has polled 42,037 votes, Mohapatra secured 30,246 at the end of the seventh round of counting. Congress candidate Jayanta Kumar Mohanty has so far secured 1,107 votes in the politically sensitive constituency located in coastal Kendrapara district.