BHUBANESWAR: Intensifying its campaign against the ruling BJD, the BJP on Friday lodged a complaint with Enforcement Directorate (ED) demanding a probe into Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s poll expenditure.“We have requested the ED to probe into Chief Minister’s poll expenditure and from where did he get the amount to spend in the elections. As the Chief Minister has already described BJP’s charges as false and malicious, we have approached the ED,” vice-president of State BJP Samir Mohanty told mediapersons.
The BJP alleged that there was a lot of discrepancies in the poll expenditure of the Chief Minister who won from the Hinjili Assembly constituency in 2014.People of the State have a right to know about the source of BJD’s funding, Mohanty said and alleged that the regional outfit received funds from chit fund companies and spent it in 2014 elections.
The BJP pointed out that the figures shown by the Chief Minister and the BJD in affidavits as election expenditure for the Hinjili constituency differ. But, the Chief Minister had signed both the affidavits as a candidate in Hinjili and as president of the BJD.The BJP had also lodged a compliant against the Chief Minister before the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Income Tax department.
The High Court on Thursday had adjourned the hearing to Monday on a bunch of pleas alleging discrepancies in the poll expenses of the Chief Minister and the BJD.
The BJP had been demanding disqualification of Naveen as a legislator alleging that he
had filed false poll affidavit before the ECI. The complaint was submitted to the Regional Joint Director of the ED here by BJP delegation.