Bhubaneswar: The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of BJD on Saturday decided to lodge a formal complaint with Election Commission of India (ECI) over alleged electoral malpractices during the Nuapada by-election.
Speaking to the media, senior BJD leader Pramila Mallik accused the ruling BJP of misusing government machinery, muscle power, money power, and strategic manipulation, particularly tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), during the November 11 bypoll.
She alleged that voters were not allowed to cast their votes freely in at least 63 booths. “These booths showed clear signs of vote diversion. BJD votes were forcibly shifted to the ruling party through unfair means,” she claimed.
Mallik said the BJD would conduct a detailed inquiry and technical analysis of the voting patterns in these 63 booths to ascertain how their votes were diverted. “We will also conduct our own inquiry, expose the EVM tampering and make the people aware about the BJP’s effort to murder democracy,” she asserted.
She further stated that the regional party had raised concerns with the Election Commission two days before polling, warning about possible EVM manipulation.
In the same meeting, the BJD also finalised its strategy to corner the Mohan Majhi government during the upcoming winter session of the Odisha Assembly.
Jay Dholakia won the high-stakes Nuapada Assembly bypoll, defeating Congress nominee Ghasiram Majhi by a massive margin of 83,478 votes. He secured 1,23,869 votes, while Majhi managed 40,121. The BJD finished a distant third as its candidate, former minister Snehangini Chhuria, polled 38,408 votes.
Nuapada was earlier considered a BJD stronghold with Rajendra Dholakia winning the seat for the party for three consecutive terms. However, his son Jay switched sides to BJP, contested and won the bypoll, which was necessitated by the untimely demise of his father on September 8.
