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BJP wins Nuapada bypoll with a vote margin of 83,000, BJD slips to third place
Jay Dholakia, the son of a former Biju Janata Dal leader, secured 1,23,869 votes, around 59% of the total votes cast in the bypoll held on November 11
BJP’s Jay Dholakia swept the Nuapada assembly bypoll in Odisha by a margin of 83,748 votes against his Congress rival Ghasi Ram Majhi, transforming what was expected to be a closely contested triangular fight into a one-sided affair.
Dholakia, 32, the son of a former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader, secured 1,23,869 votes, around 59% of the total votes cast in the bypoll held on November 11. While Ghasi Ram Majhi came second with 40,121 votes, BJD’s Snehangini Chhuria was at third position with 38,408 votes. The rest of the 11 candidates forfeited their security deposits.
The bypoll, necessitated by the death of four-term BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia on September 8, assumed outsized significance as the first electoral test for chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s government, which ended the BJD’s 24-year uninterrupted governance in May 2024. For Majhi, who reportedly visited the constituency at least six times during campaigning, the victory delivered crucial validation of his leadership 17 months into his tenure.
The record-breaking voter turnout of 83.45 per cent — significantly higher than the 75.44 per cent recorded in the 2024 assembly elections — was the highest participation rate among the eight bypolls conducted nationwide.
State BJP chief Manmohan Samal said the emphatic win showed that “voters have rejected the BJD decisively”. Samal said the success was also due to the Subhadra Yojana, a women-centric welfare scheme launched by the Majhi government. “The trend is in our favour because people have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and our government’s delivery mechanisms,” he said.
Ghasi Ram Majhi, meanwhile, alleged that the BJP bought the voters with money. “If you can give money, you can get votes. Nuapada people failed to recognise their own son of the soil. Each voter was given ₹5,000,” he said.
Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik accused the BJP of distributing money during the silence period and campaigning inside polling booths, allegations the ruling party dismissed as “political frustration”.
The bypoll holds political significance as the first electoral test for the BJP since it ended the BJD’s 24-year rule in Odisha in May 2024. Chief minister Majhi visited Nuapada at least six times in the run-up to the bypoll, treating it as a prestige battle. For the BJD and its leader Naveen Patnaik, the constituency was a stronghold — late MLA Rajendra Dholakia had won the 2024 assembly election by 10,881 votes.
For BJD supremo and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the loss carries particularly bitter implications. Having ruled Odisha with an iron grip for nearly a quarter century, Patnaik now faces questions about his continued relevance as Leader of Opposition. With BJD coming third, political analysts argued that Patnaik’s electoral appeal has diminished significantly since losing power — a psychological blow that could embolden dissidents within the BJD’s ranks.
The defeat has also raised questions about the position of state Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das, who was appointed as head of the state unit early this year. Das had succeeded in galvanising the party machinery across the state. But with Congress candidate securing less votes than he had secured as an independent in 2024 polls, may lead to lots of heartburn in Congress that has been out of power in Odisha since 2000, with its vote share declining from 33.77% in 2000 to 13% in 2024.
