BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Friday lodged a complaint with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) demanding a probe into chief minister Naveen Patnaik's poll expenditure, intensifying its campaign against the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
"As the chief minister has already described BJP's charges as false and malicious, we have approached the ED," vice-president of state BJP unit, Samir Mohanty told media persons. The BJP alleged that there were a lot of discrepancies in the poll expenditure of the chief minister, who won from the Hinjili assembly constituency in 2014.
Stating that the people of the state have a right to know about the source of BJD's funding, Mohanty alleged the regional outfit received funds from chit fund companies and spent the money in 2014 general elections.
The BJP alleged in its memorandum that the figures are shown by the chief minister and the BJD in affidavits as election expenditure for the Hinjili assembly constituency differ, but the chief minister had signed in both the affidavits as a candidate in Hinjili and as the president of the BJD.
The BJP had also lodged a complaint against the chief minister before the Election Commission of India and Income Tax department. The high court on Thursday had adjourned to Monday the hearing on a bunch of pleas alleging discrepancies in the poll expenses. The BJP had been demanding disqualification of Naveen as a legislator alleging that he had filed a false poll affidavit before the Election Commission of India. The memorandum was submitted to the regional joint director of the ED here by the BJP delegation.