Congress retains Talsara(ST) Assembly seat

Rourkela, Orissa, Nov 2 (UNI) The ruling BJD-BJP combine suffered a setback in Orissa as Opposition Congress retained the Talasara (ST) Assembly seat, where a by-election was held on October 30.

Congress candidate Dr Prafulla Majhi was declared elected, defeating his BJP rival Sahadeb Khaka by a margin of 2574 votes.

While Dr Majhi polled 44,391 votes, Mr Khakha bagged 41,817 votes in a multi-cornered contest.

This was the first by-election result during the six years tenure of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in which the ruling alliance partners lost to the Opposition.

Prior to Talsara by-election, Orissa witnessed as many as five by-elections, of which four went in favour of BJD and one for BJP.

The by-election to Talsara seat was necessisated following the death of sitting Congress MLA Gajadhar Majhi.

About 65.6 per cent of total 1.7 lakh voters cast their ballot on Monday.

UNI XC-DP PC VD BS1451