Bhubaneswar: BJD candidate Rita Sahu on Tuesday took oath as the MLA of Bijepur Assembly in Odisha’s Bargarh district.
Sahu was administered oath of office and secrecy by the Odisha Assembly Speaker Pradip Amat at his office chamber in the State Assembly here.
With this, the total number of the BJD MLAs in the State Assembly has gone up to 118.
Rita had defeated her nearest rival and BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi by 41,933 votes while the Congress candidate Pranaya Sahu finished third with a dismal show after the results were announced on February 28.
While the BJD got 1,02,871 votes, the BJP and the Congress got 60938 and 10274 votes respectively.
With this victory, BJD has managed to wrest Bijepur Assembly constituency after 14 years.
The byelection to Bijepur constituency was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Subala Sahu on August 22 last year.
