Patnagarh: Patnagarh Assembly constituency in Bolangir was being represented by veteran BJP leader and royal scion KV Singh Deo for the last 25 years, but this time he was made to bite the dust by a young BJD candidate Saroj Kumar Meher.
Meher had joined the ruling party two years ago. His win in the BJP bastion proved his organisational strength and leadership.
Before elections, the BJD had a tough job in picking up a nominee from many ticket hopefuls. But he managed to force the state leadership to pick him up for the job of taking on the BJP veteran.
The ruling part is said to be stunned by his victory against Singh Deo.
Meher defeated Singh Deo by a margin of 11,028 votes. The young BJD leader polled 88,031 while his rival Singh Deo got 77,003 votes.
Congress’ Ramesh Purohit got 30,253 votes. However, 3,367 voters preferred NOTA.
Euphoric over his victory against the BJP veteran, Meher gave credit to the people of Patnagarh for his win and thanked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
“In coming days, I resolve to pay attention to all-round development of Patnagarh,” he said.
PNN
