laxmisagar IIC shunted after Congress plaint
The ruling BJD on Tuesday called on State Election Commissioner (SEC) Ajit Kumar Tripathy and submitted a petition against the Congress for violating the model code of conduct which is in force for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls by organising a ‘hartal’.
Alleging that the Congress was holding the hartal out of frustration, a six-member team of BJD MlAs led by Anant Das met the SEC and apprised him about its grievances.
“The Congress has breached the model code of conduct by campaigning in public under the pretext of ‘hartal.’ The Congress activists picketed at various places in the city and displayed party flags. They raised slogans in favour of their party and against the BJD and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. This is unacceptable,” said Das.
Joining the chorus of BJD resentment, Revenue Minister Surjya Narayan Patro said the Congress had lost every election in the last months, including the recently concluded UlB polls. Hence, its hartal is nothing but an example of its frustration, he maintained.
On the other hand, acting on a complaint of the Congress that police were being misused by the BJD in the BMC polls, the Commissioner of Police transferred laxmisagar police station IIC Kishore Chandra Mund at the behest of the SEC.
Notably, Congress vice-president Sibananda Ray had earlier submitted a memorandum to the SEC alleging that the BJD workers with the help of the police were distributing money among voters in ward number 46 which falls under the laxmisagar police station jurisdiction.