BHUBANESWAR: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Sunday debarred senior BJD leader and government chief whip Pramila Mallik from campaigning anywhere in the State for violating the model code of conduct with her statements. She cannot campaign for 48 hours from 10 am of February 14.
In a letter to Jajpur Collector Chakravarty Singh Rathore, Secretary of SEC Raghunath Sahu said that the Commission has disapproved of the conduct of Mallik during a campaign meeting at her Assembly constituency Binjharpur. He said that Mallik has also been debarred from giving any interview and public statement to the media during the period. The commission asked the collector to serve the order to Mallik.
Rathore had issued a show-cause notice to Mallik on Thursday in the direction of the SEC for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. Addressing an election meeting at Binjharpur, Mallik had threatened people that if they did not vote for BJD-supported candidates in the panchayat elections, they would be deprived of benefits offered by the State government including old age pension, ration cards and pucca houses.
Locals and Opposition political leaders had subsequently lodged complaints with the SEC. Mallik, on the other hand, justified her speech. She said that there is nothing wrong in asking people to vote for the BJD.
“It is not a mistake to tell them not to approach me if they do not support the party candidates in the election,” she said after getting the show cause.