Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday moved Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) alleging misuse of government employees and machinery by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in its campaign for Jharsuguda Assembly by-election slated to be held on May 10.
A delegation of the BJP visited the office of the CEO and submitted a petition alleging that the ruling BJD is distributing money through women government employees to influence the voters for the forthcoming bypoll in Jharsuguda.
The BJP leaders alleged that community resource persons (CRP) of Zillapalli gram panchayat under Kolabira block — Asmita Nayak, Binita Nayak, J Pandaki Mal, and Puja Patel, have been engaged in election campaigning by BJD.
They are also distributing money among the voters to get their support for the BJD candidate in the by-election, they alleged.
The BJP leaders further alleged that Anganwadi worker Suruchi Padhi is campaigning for BJD candidate Deepali Das on social media platforms. She has appealed to people to vote for the BJD nominee in violation of the Model Code Of Conduct, they claimed, demanding strict action against the violators.
Meanwhile, BJD also petitioned the CEO alleging that BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy violated the model code of conduct by campaigning between 1 am and 2 am on May 5.
It may be noted that campaigning for the Jharsuguda bypoll will come to an end in the evening of May 8, while voting will be held on May 10 and counting of votes on May 13.
