The ruling Biju Janata Dal has retained the Pipili Assembly seat, defeating its main rival BJP in a bypoll by a margin of 20,916 votes.

The seat, where a bypoll was necessitated following the death of former minister Pradeep Maharathy, has been a BJD bastion for the past several decades. The regional party has been winning the seat since its formation in 1997. The victory also proved the political invincibility of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The BJP, despite a high voltage campaign that saw the likes of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former Union minister Pratap Sarangi slogging it out in the constituency, failed to make a dent in the BJD fortress.

The victory has further boosted BJD prospects in the upcoming panchayat and municipal elections to be held next year.

The BJD has not lost a single byelection after the last general elections of 2019. It had ensured that the BJP, which is now the main Opposition party in the state, makes no inroads into its areas of influence.

Aware that Pipili bypoll will be followed by two grassroots level elections (panchayat and municipal) the BJP had marshalled all its resources with top leaders like Pradhan, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and a host of state level leaders hitting the campaign trail. Patra campaigned for the BJP candidate for Pipili, as the Assembly constituency is a part of the Puri Lok Sabha seat which he had contested and lost in 2019. Patra is likely to contest the seat again in 2024.

On the other hand, BJD’s supremo and chief minister Patnaik was so confident about the result that he did not even visit Pipili, about 25km from Bhubaneswar, to campaign this time.

He addressed the people of the constituency on April 12 through virtual mode and promised to take its care in the absence of their late leader Pradeep Maharathy.

The bypoll was deferred twice because of the death of Congress candidate Ajit Managaraj and later because of the pandemic related lockdown. The BJD fielded late Moharathy’s son Rudra Pratap Maharathy as its candidate and the BJP fielded Ashrit Pattanayak and Congress put Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra in the fray.

Citing the reasons for the BJD winning the elections, minister Samir Ranjan Dash, who in charge of the Pipili block for the bypoll, told The Telegraph, “The chief minister’s image, the state government’s different socio-welfare works for women, farmers and others, good poll management and Patnaik’s confidence in his team played a crucial role in ensuring BJD’s victory.”

Winning candidate Rudra Pratap told the media, “I would work for the constituency. I am indebted to the chief minister. People have showered their love on me the same as they used to for my father.”

Voting for the bypoll was held on September 30. Counting began early Sunday morning at Penthakata in Puri. Victory of the BJD candidate sparked off celebrations in Puri and Pipili.

The Congress failed once again to put up a good show with the party polling less than 5,000 votes. While the BJD polled 96,972 votes, the BJP managed to get 76056 votes. The Congress got only 4,261.