LS Speaker Urged To Accept Baijayant Panda’s Resignation

Bhubaneswar: The BJD Parliamentary Party (BJDPP) has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to immediately accept the resignation of Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda.

In a letter to the Speaker on Monday, BJDPP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and chief whip Tathagata Satpathy have said that Baijayant, who was elected to Kendrapara Lok Sabha Constituency in the 2014 general elections on the BID symbol and party ticket, has been suspended from the party as he has been consistently engaging in anti-party activities.

“The suspension of Baijayant has been communicated to your august office,” they said.

The two leaders further stated that Baijayant has voluntarily given up primary membership of the BJD and also reportedly sent his resignation as Lok Sabha MP to the Speaker.

“Since he has voluntarily resigned from the BJD, he cannot continue as an MP as per the terms of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India pertaining to anti-defection provisions. In law, he stands disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP. But now that he has resigned of his own accord, the proceedings for his disqualification under the Tenth Schedule need not be initiated by our party,” the letter pointed out.

The letter has requested the Speaker to accept Baijayant’s resignation forthwith since he ceases to be an MP as per provisions of the Constitution and the law so that the necessary consequences may obtain and follow.

Baijayant was suspended from the primary membership of BJD by the party supremo Naveen Patnaik on January 24 on the basis of the report submitted by two senior party leaders Pramila Mallick and Usha Devi.

After his suspension from the party, he resigned from the BJD on May 28 and later sent his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker on June 12 with a request to accept it.