Bhubaneswar/Nuapada: Opposition BJD in Odisha Saturday said it will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission to seek “justice”, alleging that large-scale “state-sponsored manipulation” happened in the Nuapada bypoll.
The decision to lodge the complaint was taken at a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC), chaired by Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik.
“Though we had earlier lodged a complaint in this regard with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), there was no result. Therefore, the PAC today decided to approach the EC,” opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik said.
She claimed that votes for the BJD were “diverted” by means of EVM manipulation using “official machinery and money power”.
“Such rigging was observed in at least 63 polling booths. The votes given to the BJD by people were diverted to some other party. There seems to be manipulation in the EVM also,” she alleged.
“The BJP won the bypoll by capturing the votes of BJD through EVM tampering, use of money, muscle and official mechanism,” she alleged.
Mallik claimed that the party arrived at the conclusion that there were manipulations after reviewing the by-election results.
“We will also conduct our own inquiry, expose the EVM manipulation and make the people aware about the BJP’s efforts to kill democracy,” she said.
The bypoll, held on November 11, witnessed a record voter turnout of 83.45 per cent. BJP’s Jay Dholakia won the election by a margin of 83,748 votes, while BJD candidate Snehangini Chhuria was pushed to third place. Congress nominee Ghasiram Majhi finished second.
Chhuria claimed 41 polling booths registered over 90 per cent voter turnout, which created confusion in the minds of people.
“The EC first announced 75 per cent turnout at 5 pm on November 11, later raised it to 77 per cent at 7 pm, then 81 per cent the next morning, and finally revised it to 83.45 per cent. There should be no doubt about manipulations,” she said.
The BJP rejected the allegations, stating that people have lost faith in the BJD.
Mallik said the meeting also decided to take measures to strengthen the party’s frontal wings at the grassroots level.
It also chalked out a strategy for the upcoming winter session of the assembly.
PTI