Cuttack, June 4: Congress triumphed in the by-election in ward No. 21 of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation, turning the tables on the BJD with a vote share of more than 40 per cent.

Although this victory is of little consequence to Congress except for increasing the party's strength to 10 in the 59-seat municipal council, the defeat it has inflicted on the ruling party is being seen as a backlash against BJD's Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debashis Samantaray.

The high-decibel campaign by BJD ministers, two MPs, party leaders and MLAs and local celebrities, such as Anubhav Mohanty and Arindam ended with a whimper.

City Congress chief Mohammad Moquim, who single-handedly led the party campaign, played his cards cleverly. He not only sensed the palpable public mood against the BJD due to the less-than-perfect performance of the civic body, but also effectively ignited it and turned the by-election in the ward into a referendum on the Barabati-Cuttack BJD MLA by roping in his sister-in-law Sikha Samantaray to campaign against him.

"The verdict is a slap on the face of the Barabati-Cuttack BJD MLA and the message is clear and loud - voters are not to be taken for granted," Mohammed Moquim told The Telegraph.

BJD leaders conceded that their pitch was queered because a family feud spilled on to the poll arena with Sikha campaigning for the Congress candidate and taking on Debasish, her husband's elder brother, because he had denied her a share in the family property.

Sikha, while narrating her story to the voters, said her husband and his family were being denied their share of money and subjected to harassment by the MLA. Congress cashed in on the public sympathy Sikha managed to draw, BJD leaders admitted.

"I respect the verdict of the voters. I will go all out to work harder as MLA to win back the faith of the people in the ward," said Samantaray.

The by-election was necessitated because the elected councillor, the BJD's Anita Behera, who went on to become the mayor, had to put in her papers both as mayor and councillor in December last year over the ration card fiasco.

While the BJD trailed with a 32.84 per cent share of the votes, the BJP (which was in second position in the last election) ended up third with 23.62 per cent vote share.

"We were in a winning position, but our silent voters (Bengalis and Marwaris) in our pocket borough in the ward did not come out to vote due to the scuffle between workers of Congress and BJD near two of the four booths and the mild lathi-charge by the police that followed," senior BJP leader and former Cuttack MLA Samir Dey told The Telegraph.

"What happened in the by-election is a sign of things to come for the BJD," Dey said.

Of the 6,604 voters in the ward, 60 per cent exercised their franchise.