Bhubaneswar: Three BJP rebels, who contested as independent, have won the Assembly elections in Odisha. Sarada Prasad Pradhan has won in Mahanga, Himanshu Sekhar Sahoo in Dharmasala and Bijay Dalabehera in Badamba.
Sarada was the BJP MLA candidate from Mahanga in 2019. The party, however, fielded Sumant Kumar Ghadei from the seat this time. Sarada defeated Ankit Pratap Jena, son of sitting BJD legislator Pratap Jena who had won the seat three times in a trot, by 7,423 votes.
Couple of days before the final phase of elections on June 1, the BJP had expelled Himanshu from the party. Himanshu, popular as Liku, entered the fray as an Independent after the saffron party named Smruti Rekha Pahi, who was the Congress candidate from the seat in 2019. His exit had weakened the BJP’s organisation since he was credited for strengthening the party at the grassroots level in Dharmasala. He defeated sitting Dharmasala MLA of BJD Pranab Balabantray by 4,150 votes.
Bijay defeated former minister and six-time MLA Debi Prasad Mishra of BJD in Badamba by over 23,000 votes. Despite the dissidence, the saffron party has been able to win a majority in the Odisha Legislative Assembly with 78 MLAs. While the ruling BJD is down to 58, Congress has improve its tally to 14 with CPI (M) winning one seat in 2024.