BHUBANESWAR: Days after the BJD reached out to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking clarification over the ‘glaring and unusual discrepancies’ in the voting and counting numbers in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, party supremo and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said he was in favour of going back to paper ballot.
Speaking to mediapersons during the 28th foundation day celebrations of BJD here, Naveen said the complaint filed by the BJD on huge variations in the polling percentage as well as vote numbers should be examined carefully and the ECI should come up with an explanation.
Coming down heavily on the BJP for reacting to the complaint, he said “I do not know why the BJP is getting so riled by it. Nobody has accused them of anything yet. It seems to be an example of one person claiming to be innocent even as he is not accused of committing any wrong,” he said.
Alluding to irregularities in EVM-based elections, the BJD supremo for the first time joined voice with several Opposition parties and said his party was also in favour of holding polls through paper ballot. He also supported the Opposition protest against the remarks of Union Home minister Amit Shah on BR Ambedkar and termed it very unfortunate. “I think the Union Home minister’s remark on such an illustrious figure as Dr BR Ambedkar is very unfortunate,” the former chief minister said.
He, however, said the BJD is yet to take stand on ‘one nation one election’ as it is still examining the issue. Replying to a question on his successor, Naveen said, he has not given a thought to it. “Well, I am here for a long time. I have not thought about this,” he said.
He also refuted questions on the future of the BJD and said the regional outfit was still very strong and had a bright future. The popularity of the party has not diminished as is evident from the fact that the BJD got more votes than the BJP in the 2024 elections, he said.
‘BJP won elections by spreading lies’
Addressing the party leaders on the foundation day, Naveen alleged the BJP came to power in Odisha by spreading lies and misleading people. Stating that the BJD could not successfully counter their lies, their negative campaign and false narratives on social media, the former chief minister said now the people are realising that they came to power by making false promises.
“Our mistake was that we could not counter their lies properly. We could not counter their negative campaign and false narratives on social media properly,” he added.
Naveen said price rise was the biggest gift of the BJP government to the people in the last six months. He advised party workers to be active on the ground and social media to raise the BJP’s failures and counter the ruling party’s false propaganda.