Bhubaneswar: A team of Biju Janata Dal ( BJD) representatives Tuesday approached the Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Surendra Kumar demanding a week-long campaign ban against Union P&NG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly violating ‘Model Code of Conduct’.
The delegates accused the minister of campaigning for his party at the polling booth after casting his vote Tuesday and demanded strict and immediate action against him. “Campaigning for his political party and that too at the polling booth, and this being telecast across the state is a flagrant violation of the election model code of conduct and guidelines by BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan,” the party accused.
“We demand in line with the precedents set nationally for political leaders in this election and the bans they have been served by the Election Commission of India (ECI), it is becoming that Dharmendra Pradhan for this massive violation is banned for one week from campaigning for his party,” the complaint of BJD to CEO read.
BJD Spokesperson Sulochana Das who was part of the delegation explained that after casting his vote, Pradhan had campaigned for his party by providing a media byte which had been telecast.
It should also be stated here that the BJP also lodged two separate complaints against the ruling BJD. In the first the party alleged that their supporters had been attacked by armed BJD supporters while on their way to a rally in Basta, in Balasore district which the PM was to address later in the day.
In the second complaint the BJP alleged that Bhubaneswar Central Assembly candidate Ananta Narayan Jena had violated the code of conduct by distributing money in some areas of his constituency Monday evening.
