A delegation of the Congress on Friday met Governor Dr SC Jamir and submitted a memorandum to him seeking immediate removal of State Election Commissioner (SEC) Ajit Kumar Tripathy for allegedly favouring the ruling BJD and failing to take appropriate action against Ministers despite blatant violations of the model code of conduct by them.
The delegation, headed by State Congress president Jayadev Jena, demanded the SEC's removal before the January 8 Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections to ensure a 'free and fair' poll. The memorandum referred to the SEC's dithering over the controversial speech made by Finance Minister and BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya at Bargarh at a recent UlB poll meeting even after getting irrefutable recorded evidence in the issue.
The Governor summoned SEC Tripathy to meet him on Monday and discuss the issue. Tripathy told reporters that he would explain his action to the Governor.
He, however, claimed that he has been acting according to his Constitutional authority. It may be noted that on November 17 Acharya had stated at the meeting in ward-19 in Bargarh as the Finance Minister he would lock up funds if people voted for the Congress instead of voting for the BJD. He had said as he had the key to the State exchequer, he would not release a rupee for the area's development if the people did not vote for his party.
The Congress leaders pointed out in their memorandum that SEC Tripathy did not take Acharya and other accused Ministers to task while he punished civil servants on flimsy grounds.
The Congress also pointed out that while huge amounts of money were distributed by the BJD to win votes and the ruling party candidates spent lavishly in violation of limits imposed by the SEC, none of the financial observers 'handpicked' by the SEC reported the matter. The Congress in a release said, "Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee has lost its confidence in the SEC who is virtually dancing to the tunes of (Chief Minister) Naveen Patnaik.
We also feel that he is expressing his token of obligation to the Chief Minister who has assigned him this independent Constitutional body after his retirement as Chief Secretary. We also apprehend his partisan attitude to facilitate the BJD in the forthcoming BMC elections, and we do not expect a free and fair election as happened in the last elections."