Congress leader and leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra on Sunday alleged that the rival parties, obviously meaning the BJP and the BJD, spent Rs 5,000 for every voter in the Bijepur by-election. The spending amounted to hundreds of crores considering the constituency’s electorate of over two lakh, he added.
Mishra, an eminent lawyer himself, who was speaking at a seminar jointly organised by the Utkal University law College and the GM law College of Sambalpur, wanted that the relevant laws should be changed to curb money power in elections.
Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty, a former law Minister, who also spoke at the seminar, referring to Mishra’s allegation, made a controversial remark that had Mahatma Gandhi been contesting election nowadays, he too would be spending money; otherwise, he would defeated.