Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Wednesday met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in New Delhi and accused the BJD of distributing money to voters ahead of the Dhamnagar by-election and the Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of not taking any action against the guilty.
Later, Pradhan told the media that the CEO instead of taking action against the officials who are flouting the rules is shielding them. The Government machinery is rampantly misused in the Dhamnagar constituency.
Mainly, the Departments of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mission Shakti, which are under the Bhadrak district Collector, are acting as tools of the State Government, Pradhan alleged.
“Earlier, we had informed the CEO about the money distribution. Today, the CEO held a Press meet and said that a forensic probe has been launched for the purpose. This means no action will be taken until the forensic report comes out. Moreover, the CEO himself is the Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department. How can he taken strict action against his own department’s employees? This is a conflict of interests. So, we took the matter to the Election Commission (EC),” Pradhan added.