Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday lambasted the ruling BJD for vitiating the election process in the State and demanded that the Election Commission of India conduct a fair probe into incidents of poll mismanagement and EVM tampering vis-à-vis the role of poll personnel.
Addressing a Press conference here, Mohapatra, also a party candidate in the Mahakalpada Assembly seat, said the State Government has virtually taken over the electoral machinery of the State and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Private Secretary V Kartikeyan Pandian is playing a “dubious role” in managing the State Chief Electoral Office to ensure Patnaik-led BJD’s victory for a fourth straight time.
Criticising the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mona Sharma for the mess in the election management, Mohapatra said she must not succumb to the Government’s pressure as far as management of the elections is concerned. The BJP would prepare a detailed report on the “severely compromised election process in Odisha” and submit it to the Election
Commission demanding a probe into the mess and exemplary action to save the democratic values, he said.
Pointing finger at the Chief Minister’s Office, he alleged, “The Third Floor in the State Secretariat has turned to be an extended cell of the CEO to execute the evil designs for the BJD’s success. Scared of losing power, the BJD tried to rig the elections through EVMs and also unleashed a rein of money and muscle power and misuse of official machinery, Mohapatra said.
He regretted that even though cash running to crores of rupees and vehicles carrying them were seized during the elections, the CEO has not given any information about the number of cases and names of the persons who have been arrested. The effort was to protect ruling party members who were caught for violating the model code of conduct, he said.
On the seizure of the EVM-loaded Bolero from the Marshaghai BDO’s official residence, Mohapatra sought to know from the CEO why the EVMs were parked there instead of the strong room after the polling process was over.