BHUBANESWAR : The BJD on Sunday demanded arrest of Independent candidate from the Dharmasala Assembly seat Himanshu Sekhar Sahoo for his alleged involvement in the series of attacks and violence against BJD candidate from the seat Pranab Kumar Balabantaray.
In a memorandum submitted to the ECI, a delegation of BJD leaders alleged Sahoo has been perpetuating violence over the past several days and has also damaged public property in Dharmasala including LAccMI buses and a police vehicle.
The memorandum alleged that the attacks started on May 27 when Balabantaray was leading a rally through Osara village on NH-53 to Mandira village. An FIR has already been filed in this regard at the local police station and the CEO was also apprised about the incident with photographs as evidence, it added. The memorandum further alleged Balabantaray was also attacked on June 1, on the last day of polling, when he was visiting booth number 65 and 66 in Antia gram panchayat. On the same night at around 10 pm, the office of the Kalpataru Das National Foundation in front of the block office at Dharmasala was attacked and the guard assaulted. The residence of Balabantaray was attacked in the night of June 2 by Sahoo and his supporters, it added.
The BJD urged the CEO to take immediate action in this regard to give a strong message to those who are trying to destroy the democratic process with violence.