The BJP has retained the Dhamnagar Assembly seat in Odisha as its candidate Suryabanshi Suraj beat the BJD’s Abanti Das by a margin of 9,881 votes in the bypoll results on Sunday.

Election to the Dhamnagar seat was necessitated following the death of BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi.

While the BJP took advantage of the sympathy wave created by the death of its MLA, things became complicated for the BJD with one of its former MLAs entering the fray as a rebel.

In order to cash in on the sympathetic wave, the BJP fielded Shetty’s son Suraj as its candidate and backed him wholeheartedly. Even BJP national president J.P. Nadda flew to Dhamnagar to express his solidarity with the family of Sethi.

On the other hand, the BJD ignored its former MLA Rajendra Das and instead fielded a woman candidate Abanti Das. Rajendra Das turned rebel and contested the election as an independent candidate. Though he could not win, he was able to split the BJD votes which resulted in the defeat of the party candidate.

“Had the BJD been able to quell the internal squabbling, the result would have been different. Woman card will not always bring desired results,” said a senior BJD leader.

Chief minister and the BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik said: “I always respect the verdict of the people. The MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi died recently and he was quite popular. His son was given the ticket and since the BJP has been holding the seat for a number of years, it was expected that they would win.”

Naveen did not campaign in Dhamnagar physically before the bypoll. Instead, he preferred to bank on virtual campaigns. It did not give the desired results.

Jubilant BJP workers were seen distributing sweets and dancing across the constituency. “I know the people of Dhamnagar are with me. They have showered their blessings on me,” said Suraj.

Taking a dig at the BJD, BJP state unit president Samir Mohanty said: “It’s a message to those who had thought that they were invincible. We will do well in the 2024 general elections.”

On the other hand, the Congress continued to show its poor performance. Its candidate Baba Harekrushna Sethy only fetched 3,561 votes despite Congress stalwarts having campaigned for the party’s candidate.

Now the BJD had to face another bypoll in Padampur of Baragarh district where the election will be held on December 5.