Patnaik-led BJD retained the Padampur Assembly seat by winning the bypoll after defeating the nearest BJP rival by a huge margin of 42,679 votes.
BJD's Barsha Singh Bariha polled 1,20,807 (58 per cent) votes, BJP candidate Pradeep Purohit managed 78,128 (37.51 per cent) votes, while Congress' Satya Bhusan Sahu finished a distant third with only 3,594 (1.73 per cent) votes.
The Chief Minister, in his election campaign for the bypoll, had announced sops for different categories of people and had assured the public that their demand to declare Padampur as a separate district will be fulfilled in 2023.
