BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Tuesday attacked the State Election Commission for allegedly favouring the ruling BJD and turning a blind eye to the Opposition.
Coming down heavily on the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Aditya Padhi for his reluctance to meet Opposition leaders, State BJP general secretary Lekhashree Samantasinghar said the Commission has become a tool in the hands of the BJD government.
She said the voter lists prepared by the SEC is not in conformity with the lists prepared by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Complaints are pouring in from the districts that names of many voters, especially candidates aspiring to contest panchayat polls, are not in the SEC lists.
"Voters who figured in the ECI lists are missing in the SEC lists. From this, one can easily understand the wrongful intention of the State government as well as the SEC. A deliberate attempt was made by the BJD to eliminate its rivals and the SEC complied," she charged.
Claiming that the names of some of the prominent candidates of the BJP are missing from the final lists, Samantasinghar said that the SEC washed off its hands saying that nothing can be done now.
"We have never seen such a partisan SEC who is still having bureaucratic handover. Padhi’s predecessors were all bureaucrats but they had respect for the laws. The incumbent SEC is not interested in meeting delegations from Opposition political parties. He is still behaving like a bureaucrat and an employee of the State government," said State BJP president Samir Mohanty.