BHUBANESWAR: Alleging rigging and booth capturing by BJD workers in many Assembly segments of the six Parliamentary constituencies where voting was held on Monday, BJP urged the Election Commission to conduct re-poll in booths where irregularities have been reported.
A BJP delegation led by party’s State vice-president Samir Mohanty met Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar and submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Election Commission of India, alleging that district election officers of the six districts of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Jagatsingpur and Kendrapara have miserably failed to conduct a free and fair election.
In the memorandum they stated that the returning officers of the six districts did not function within the framework of the Election Commission as they worked for the ruling party in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Alleging lapse in security arrangements at many places, the delegation said the BJD workers took advantage of it and successfully rigged the polling.
Submitting visuals of booth rigging and capturing in a CD, they cited the instance of booth no. 310 at Singri Bazar UP School under Aul Assembly constituency where BJD goons captured the booths and cast votes for the ruling party in the presence of polling personnel.
The BJP delegation submitted a list of booths in the six Parliamentary constituencies where poll irregularities were reported. In a bid to capture one of the booths in Bari Assembly segment, a BJP polling agent was severely beaten up by BJD goons, they said.
Complaining that about 1,200 polling personnel engaged in the last phase of the poll are deprived of their right to exercise their franchise as they were not provided with postal ballot papers, the delegation urged the CEO to allow them to cast their votes.