The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday requested the Election Commission to hold Odisha Assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the event of the latter being advanced.
The letter, which was given to the poll panel in the national capital by party MP Pinaki Mishra, stated that holding simulations elections will save the state an extra expenditure of around Rs 1,000 crore.
Elections in the state are due in April-May next year. Odisha is among the few States where elections to both the Lok Sabha and the assembly are being held simultaneously since 2004. “On behalf of the BJD, we request you that in the event any decision is taken by the Central Government to prepone the Lok Sabha polls, before they are scheduled to be held in 2019, we would request you to make adequate preparations to hold elections to the Odisha Assembly simultaneously, so as to save the extra expenditure of almost Rs 1,000 crore, which an upcoming state like Odisha can ill-afford,” the letter stated.
Mishra said the party moved the Election Commission amid speculation that the general elections might be held ahead of its schedule in March-April next year.
The BJD MP said there is speculation that Centre may go for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and 11 State Assemblies. “Odisha must be included in the one nation, one poll proposal,” he said. “There is no immediate reason behind our move. But, we wanted to inform the EC that the ruling BJD will like to go to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections,” Mishra said.