Bhubaneswar: The six BJD MLAs issued a show-cause notice for voting for BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray in the Rajya Sabha election, Friday, asked the party chief whip to withdraw the notice or face legal action.
The six MLAs – Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishor Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki)-were March 17 served with show cause notices by BJD Chief Whip Pramila Mallick to explain as to why they voted against the legislature party decision in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections.
Tripathy termed the chief whip’s notice as “ex facie, illegal, arbitrary, baseless and unconstitutional and tantamount to committing offences punishable under Section 171 & 174 of BNS-2023.”
“The language used in your show cause notice not only attracts penal actions contemplated in Section 171 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) for unduly influencing an election but also has the effect of over reaching the directions of the Election Commission of India contained in Press Note vide Election Commission of India vide Letter No./PN/57/2017, dated 06.07.2017,” Tripathy wrote back in his response to the show cause notice.
The other five MLAs also replied similarly, sources said.
Reacting to Tripathy’s reply, Mallik said, “They have not replied as to why they voted against the party decision. They should not think that the law is only for them. We are also prepared to take shelter under the law if required.”
Meanwhile, the BJD’s disciplinary committee took serious note of the response of the six MLAs who, instead of speaking the reason for their cross-voting, issued legal threat.
“The conduct and utterances of the members who have been show-caused were reviewed. It was concluded that they were acting against the officially declared party interests, amounting to ‘voluntarily’ giving up membership,” a senior leader of the party told PTI.
The disciplinary committee meeting, chaired by BJD senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra, has vetted the suggestions that were placed before party president Naveen Patnaik for action deemed necessary for this act, the leader said.
Meanwhile, the BJD suspended 10 youth and student leaders with allegiance to the six MLAs on charges of anti-party activities.