Bhubaneswar: Odisha unit of BJP on Thursday alleged that BJD leaders V K Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das were involved in telecast of exit poll by a news channel in the state and staged a dharna before the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Bhubaneswar demanding the arrest of the two ruling party leaders.
The BJP leaders said even though the last phase of elections was yet to be held in the state, the telecast of the exit polls to mislead the voters. Since exit poll is banned till all phases of general elections, the channel should be penalised, they added.
“The last of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on June 1. But the private channel telecast the exit polls. It is total violation of the restrictions imposed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the elections. We demand arrest of those responsible for telecasting the exit poll including authorities of the channel and V K Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das,” said BJP leader Babu Singh.
After the BJP moved the Chief Election Commissioner of India against the channel on Wednesday, the Commission had directed the CEO to take necessary action and submit a compliance report by 5.30 pm on May 30.
Neither the channel nor BJD has issued any statement or comment on the matter.
