Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has served show-cause notices to six of its MLAs for defying the party whip during the March 16 Rajya Sabha election for four seats from Odisha.
The MLAs – Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol) and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki) – voted for a candidate not supported by BJD.
The notice issued by party whip Pramila Mallik described their actions as a serious breach of discipline and held that it amounts to voluntarily giving up party membership under the anti-defection law. The MLAs have been given time till 5 pm on March 20 to explain why disciplinary action, including suspension and defection proceedings, should not be initiated against them.
“You are therefore called upon to show cause within 3 days of issuance of this notice as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against you, including suspension from the Biju Janata Dal; and appropriate legal and constitutional proceedings should not be initiated on the ground that by your conduct you have voluntarily given up the membership of the BJD,” it said.
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Failure to respond may lead to ex-parte action and possible disqualification proceedings. “…the party shall be at liberty to proceed ex-parte and take such action as may be deemed appropriate in accordance with law and the constitution and rules of the Biju Janata Dal.”
It added that the notice has been issued with the approval of the BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
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The action follows cross-voting in the biennial election, which spoiled the Opposition’s plan to prevent a BJP sweep in the poll. BJD candidate Santrupt Misra secured his seat comfortably with strong first-preference support. However, in the contest for the fourth seat, BJP-backed Independent Dilip Ray emerged victorious over Dr Datteswar Hota, the joint candidate supported by the Opposition including BJD and Congress, thanks to decisive second-preference votes after both candidates were tied in the initial count. This unexpected gain for the BJP came courtesy of cross-voting by several Opposition MLAs, adding to the party’s already secured victories for its candidates Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar.
