86 govt employees booked in Odisha for violation of Model code

The district administration of Kendrapara has registered cases against 86 government employees on charge of violation of model code of conduct under Representation of the People Act.

"The district election office submitted a report of negligence of general election duty against the 86 employees. Legal action is being initiated against them under section-123 of Representation of the People Act, 1951," said Kendrapara Superintendent of Police, Rabi Narayan Behera.

The district election office had earlier informed that 109 government staff had been served Non-bailable Warrants (NBWs) on April 17, the day of the polling for not joining poll duty.

However, they were not taken to task prompting the opposition parties to level partisan charge against the civil and police administration. Besides, it (non-action) had also fuelled a controversy as nearly half of the erring employees were from politically sensitive Mahakalpada assembly seat.

"As per law, the 86 employees would be arrested unless they manage to obtain bail from the court," said a senior police officer adding that the police would issue arrest warrants against them in a day or two.

Of the 86 employees identified for action, 52 of them belonged to Mahakalpada assembly segment while the remaining hailed from other assembly segments.

Though 109 employees were initially found skipping poll duty, the administration later found that 23 of them were genuinely ill.

"As they produced medical certificates to substantiate the serious nature of their sickness, they were spared from legal action," said Kendrapara Collector, Nitin Bhanudas Jawale.