Bhubaneswar, June 23 :     Orissa chief minister Giridhar Gamang today won his first election to the Assembly decisively from the tribal constituency of Laxmipur, securing-ing his chair and silencing his critics. Gamang trounced Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Bibhisan Majhi by more than 19,000 votes in the bypoll that had be-come a prestige fight between the ruling Congress and Opposition parties. BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had camped in Rayagada for four days prior to the polling to campaign against the chief minister. With his victory, Gamang be-came the first elected tribal chief minister of the state. ?I am happy to have been accepted by the peo-ple,? Gamang said over the phone from Rayagada, near Laxmipur, nearly 400 km from Bhu-baneswar. ?This is what matters in democracy,? he said. Gamang said he was not euphoric about his victory: ?I feel no change. I am still the person I was before the polls.?? The vote was also a referendum on Gamang?s popularity on his home turf. He not only hails from undivided Koraput district, but won the Koraput parliamentary seat repeatedly since 1972. Laxmipur is one of the seven Assembly segments under his parliamentary constituency which he will have to give up now. Congress leaders said the results vindicated party chief Sonia Gandhi?s decision to replace Janaki Ballav Patnaik with Gamang as chief minister for Patnaik?s failure to contain violence on Christians. A defeat would have not only cost Gamang his chair, but weakened Sonia Gandhi?s grip on the party?s state unit. The victory was also a blow to the anti-Gamang camp in the faction-ridden Congress led by Patnaik. But the Opposition dismissed Gamang?s victory as meaningless. ?He had misused the state machinery to win the seat and remain in power. We had lodged several protests with the Election Commission,? a senior BJD leader said. ?Gamang is an immoral person. He had pulled down the Atal Behari Vajpayee government by casting his vote as a Lok Sabha MP despite a call to his conscience by the Speaker.?? Gamang said he was not per-turbed by criticism. ?I do not want to silence anybody. They should air their opinions. This is healthy in a democracy.??