BJP’s Nuapada Bypoll Sweep Leaves BJD, Congress Scrambling; Blame Game Intensifies

Bhubaneswar: The emphatic victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Nuapada Assembly bypoll has set off a fresh political storm in Odisha, with both the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress levelling serious allegations even as the ruling party basked in one of its biggest electoral margins in the region.

BJP candidate Jay Dholakia’s landslide win by over 80,000 votes—one of the highest recorded margins in Nuapada—triggered jubilant scenes at the party’s state headquarters in Bhubaneswar. The win, party leaders said, marks a resounding endorsement of the newly installed double-engine government in its first major electoral test since assuming office.

Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, state BJP president Manmohan Samal and senior leaders congratulated Dholakia at a felicitation ceremony, describing the verdict as a “historic reaffirmation” of both state and central leadership. “This mandate answers those who questioned my credibility. The people have spoken,” Dholakia told supporters after receiving his election certificate.

But the celebrations came amid sharp pushback from the Opposition, which has accused the BJP of deploying the state machinery to tilt the contest.

Veteran BJD leader Rabi Narayan Nanda alleged that the bypoll witnessed unprecedented administrative involvement.

“From police personnel to field officials, everyone seemed to be functioning as BJP flag-bearers. The entire administrative system lined up behind the ruling party,” he charged, terming the atmosphere one of “institutional interference.”

The Congress echoed similar concerns. Its spokesperson Manisha Das Patnaik alleged that inducements were openly distributed.

“We informed the Election Commission that money was being routed through sarees and packets. No action followed,” she said, further claiming that Congress booth agents were identified, approached and threatened by BJP workers.

“In BJP-ruled states, police often facilitate this distribution. Nuapada was no different,” she alleged.

Odisha BJP general secretary Biranchi Tripathy dismissed the charges as “politically convenient fiction.”

“In an age where everyone has a mobile camera, it is extraordinary that not a single video exists. These are excuses, not allegations,” he said.

Tripathy also pointed to the numerical outcome to rebut the BJD.

“If the state machinery was being misused, how did the BJD slip to third place for the first time in any by-election since its formation in 1997? The numbers show voters have withdrawn their confidence,” he argued.

He added that the Congress’s doubts about its own booth agents only highlighted its organisational decay. “People chose development; the Opposition chose excuses.”