BJD Influencing Patkura Voters In The Name Of Relief: BJP

Bhubaneswar: A delegation of BJP leaders led by the party’s state vice-president Sameer Mohanty on Tuesday met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Surendra Kumar and lodged a complaint against the BJD.

Talking to mediapersons later, Mohanty said the ruling BJD is trying to influence the people of Patkura Assembly constituency in the name of relief distribution. “The ruling party is distributing relief material using the party symbol,” he alleged.

He further said that his party urged the CEO to make tight security arrangements in 34 booths where re-polling will be held on May 19. “We urged the CEO to direct the administration to install CCTV cameras in these booths,” he pointed out.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had deferred the Patkura Assembly poll to May 19 following the death of BJD candidate and sitting MLA Bed Prakash Agarwalla. However, the Commission later deferred the poll by two months following a request by the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik pleading that  polling will be affected due to Cyclone Fani.