BHUBANESWAR: A day after the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Odisha RS Gopalan said the Election Commision of India (ECI) has clarified all the queries raised by the BJD, a party delegation led by senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra, Rajya Sabha member Sulata Deo, former Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik, Opposition chief whip in the Assembly Pramila Mallik and vice-president Sanjay Das Burma met chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar along with election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi at New Delhi on Tuesday.
Addressing a media conference after the meeting, the BJD leaders said the party reiterated its objection to the unexplained and unusual variances in the number of votes polled and counted. Besides, the increase in votes polled in the constituencies after closure time by 15 to 30 per cent was again raised before the ECI.
The BJD leaders maintained that these concerns were raised by the party earlier in a memorandum submitted to the ECI in November. However, even after eight months, the ECI has failed to address the concerns satisfactorily and brushed aside the points raised by the party, they alleged.
They also criticised the approach of the ECI to shift the responsibility for ensuring transparency in the electoral process to booth agents, counting agents and polling agents only. This point had already been raised in BJD’s second representation to the ECI, they added.
The leaders also refuted reports in a section of the press that the ECI has asked the party to submit affidavit regarding the points raised in the memorandum.
On the issue of special intensive revision (SIR) to be started in Odisha next month, they said the party will take a stand after studying the provisions. SIR should be conducted with the objective of improving transparency in the electoral process with active involvement of all stakeholders, they emphasised.
The leaders warned that if the ECI continues to ignore their concerns, it will launch a statewide agitation and also approach the Orissa High Court very soon.