BJD puts off constituency review after buzz over Centre’s poll plan

BHUBANESWAR: As speculation over the ‘one nation, one election’ (ONOE) principle gained ground after the Centre’s announcement of a five-day special session of the Parliament from September 18, the ruling Biju Janata Dal postponed its assembly constituency-level exercise which was scheduled to kick off from Friday.

Though there is intense speculation over simultaneous polls, the ruling party is mulling several possibilities. One of them is simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha as well as assembly will be held in 2024 as per schedule. 

A senior BJD leader told The New Indian Express that the assembly constituency-level exercise was convened to fine tune organisational preparedness of the party before polls. But the situation has changed after the special session of Parliament was convened. “The picture will become clear after the Parliament session begins,” he said.

The ruling party had planned assembly constituency-level exercise for more than a month but taking the changed scenario into consideration, the core committee of the party comprising senior leaders decided to postpone it. The panel will meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday to decide the next date of the organisational exercise.

The ruling outfit, meanwhile, maintained it is prepared to face elections anytime. Rajya Sabha MP Manas Ranjan Mangaraj said BJD is always ready for elections.

However, BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan ruled out the possibility of early elections. Referring to the speculation over ONOE, Harichandan said the Centre has constituted a committee on it. “Many important bills are likely to be passed in the special session of the Parliament,” he added.

Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra said both BJP and BJD want early elections as popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief minister has slipped a few notches. 

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