SAMBALPUR: The ongoing panchayat election is the most violent in the history of Odisha, said national BJP secretary Suresh Pujari. Addressing media here on Monday, Pujari demanded a judicial probe into the violence and violation of model code of conduct during the ongoing three-tier panchayat election in the State.
Terming Odisha as a peace-loving State, Pujari said Odisha had witnessed a few incidents of violence in the previous elections but the violence during the current election is all-time high.
Castigating the BJD for using Government machineries during election, he alleged that the number of star campaigners who campaigned for the BJD is beyond the number provided by the party to the State Election Commission.
Apart from the list of star campaigners which included Odia actors, BJD had 10 bureaucrats including Private Secretary to CM, VK Pandian; Additional Secretary to CM, PK Mohapatra; Joint Secretaries to CM, Gopabandhu Dash and Suranjan Satapathy besides ADG (Law & Order) Binayanand Jha campaigning for the party, Pujari claimed.
He said BJP was open to any probe on allegations of violation of model code by the party. But he questioned whether the BJD is ready for it.
Criticising the State Election Commission, he said Odisha has never seen such a helpless Commission. He demanded the SEC to suggest State Government to conduct judicial probe into the violence and the violation of CoC during the election.
Urging BJD to accept defeat with all humility, Pujari said it was the outcome of arrogance and lack of governance. There is a complete collapse of governance forcing the people to turn to BJP hoping to tide over the situation.
However, he was at a loss of words to explain the defeat of BJP in Nuapada, the home district of State BJP president Basanta Panda.