The ruling Biju Janata Dal has won the Jharsuguda bypoll by defeating the BJP by 48,721 votes.

The election results, which were announced on Saturday, showed the BJD polling more votes this time than in 2019. In the 2019 general election, the BJD had got 98,620 votes in Jharsuguda against 1,07,198 this time.

The party's thumping victory has sent a message that BJD president and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s popularity is still intact and the party’s hold over the masses remains complete.

Naveen, who was earlier reluctant to campaign in Jharsuguda, had conceded to the request of BJD cadres after the party felt it would be tough to win the bye-election with a comfortable margin without Naveen visiting Jharsuguda. After Naveen sought votes for the party candidate on the last day of campaigning, the equation quickly changed and it was almost confirmed that the party would win the election.

Naveen congratulated BJD candidate Dipali Das for her landslide victory and asked her to work for the cause of the people.

While Das got 1,07,198 votes, the BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy managed to secure only 58,477. The Congress' performance was abysmal. The party’s candidate Tarun Pandey only got 4,496 votes and lost his deposits. The BJD and BJP’s vote share increased by 5 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, while the Congress’s vote share dropped by 8.5 per cent. The BJD’s vote share stood at 60.93 per cent, the BJP’s 33.35 per cent and the Congress's only 2.55 per cent.

Senior Congress leaders said the time has come for self-introspection.

Election to the seat was necessitated following the death of health minister Naba Kishore Das who was shot dead by an assistant inspector of police on January 29.

After her comfortable win, 26-year-old Dipali Das, the daughter of the slain minister, said: "The people of Jharsuguda have showered their love and blessings on me. Today people have answered, blessed, and posed their faith in me. I will work with dedication to the belief of these people. I will fulfil the dreams of my late father. The chief minister has always stood with me just like my father."

BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya said: "We worked according to the direction of Naveen babu, who is the most popular leader. This is the mantra of winning the election one after another under the able leadership of the chief minister.”

The BJP said it would introspect and fix all the loopholes ahead of the 2024 elections. “We will certainly review our performance. Despite the misuse of government machinery, our vote share percentage has increased” BJP state president Manmohan Samal said.

The Congress attributed the defeat to the lack of resources to organise elections like that of the BJD and BJP and a lack of unity among its leaders. "In this bypoll, our votes went to the BJD,” senior Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said.

Senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das said: "We should self-introspect. We need to work with team spirit.”