The BJD's strength in the state's 147-member Assembly has increased to 113 seats
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Rita Sahu on Thursday won the by-election to the Bijepur constituency in Odisha by a margin of 97,990 votes, which is the highest ever margin in the history of the state's Assembly polls.
Ms Sahu registered her victory over her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an election official said.
While Ms Sahu received 1,35,957 votes - over 73 per cent of the total votes, Mr Gartia secured 37,967 (around 20 per cent).
Congress candidate Dilip Kumar Panda secured the third position by receiving 5,876 votes.
With Ms Sahu's victory, the BJD's strength in the state's 147-member Assembly has increased to 113 seats.
"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated Rita Sahu for her huge historic win, breaking all records in Odisha's electoral history," the Chief Minister's Office said.
Ms Sahu's victory margin is much higher compared to Mr Patnaik, whose margin stood at 57,122 votes in the elections earlier this year.
The by-election to the Bijepur seat in Bargarh district was necessitated after Mr Patnaik resigned from Bijepur and retained his home-turf Hinjili in Ganjam district. Mr Patnaik had won from two seats in the Assembly polls earlier this year.
In the Assembly polls held earlier this year, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik of the BJD had won by a margin of 81,430 votes from the Khandapada seat, which was the highest margin recorded in the state till Ms Sahu's victory.
Following the BJD's win, celebrations erupted at its party offices in Bhubaneswar and Bargarh.