BJD rejects Odisha's Nuapada by-poll results, alleges massive rigging by ruling BJP

Bhubaneswar: Odisha's opposition BJD on Sunday rejected the Nuapada by-poll results in which the party finished third after the BJP and the Congress, and charged the ECI with failing to prevent "rigging" by the ruling party.

The BJP denied the allegations.

The Nuapada constituency was held by the BJD, and its MLA's death necessitated the by-poll. The deceased's son Jay Dholakia was tipped to be the party candidate, but he joined the BJP and became its candidate, leaving the BJD red-faced. It then fielded the party's women's wing chief Snehangini Chhuria.

“I completely reject the Nuapada by-poll results and condemn the ECI and the district administration for failing to conduct a free and fair election,” Chhuria said at a press conference at Sankha Bhawan, the state headquarters of the BJD.

While BJP candidate Jay Dholakia won the by-polls bagging over 1.23 lakh votes, Chhuria polled only 38,408 votes and came third. Congress nominee Ghasiram Majhi finished second with 40,121 votes.

Chhuria alleged: “The BJP manipulated the by-poll using administrative machinery and police. Nuapada district collector, who was the district election officer and the SP acted like BJP's agents and did not take any measures to check the electoral fraud being committed by ruling party leaders.”

She claimed the people of Nuapada are also surprised by the by-poll results.

“Since Independence, the vote percentage in 41 booths in certain places has never crossed 70 per cent. However, this time, those 41 booths recorded over 90 per cent turnout which is itself a surprise. Nobody in Odisha accepts this figure released by the ECI,” she said.

The BJD leader also accused the ECI of changing the voter turnout figure several times.

Chhuria said that the ECI at 5 PM of November 14 announced that it was 75 per cent by the end of the official voting time.

“At 7 PM, the ECI released data saying that the voter turnout was 77 per cent. The next day at 10 AM, it said the voter turnout was 81 per cent and later revised it to 83.45 per cent at 12 noon. This is not at all acceptable,” Chhuria said.

She alleged that the BJP secured its victory by rigging votes through the district administration, police, and election officials.

“I have seen overwhelming support for BJD and Naveen Patnaik in all the 63 gram panchayats and 33 urban wards during the campaign. That is not reflected in the final vote count. During the campaign, the district administration worked against BJD workers, and repeated complaints to election officials brought no action,” she alleged.

Chhuria alleged that while outsider BJD leaders left Nuapada during the silence period, 48 hours before polling as per the ECI protocol, the BJP leaders stayed back and distributed money.

When a BJD worker filed a complaint, he was detained, booked under the Arms Act, and jailed, she claimed. Chhuria alleged that the election officials ignored allegations that BJP workers entered booths and pressured voters to support their candidate.

She vowed to continue fighting for the interests of people in Nuapada.

BJP general secretary Biranchi Tripathy rejected all allegations of Chhuria and asked the opposition party to introspect and do not insult the people of Nuapada who largely participated in the by-poll.

He said the opposition party and its candidate should accept the people’s verdict.

“The BJD should realise that the people of Odisha have now completely lost faith in them. For the first time, the entire election process was conducted under full CCTV surveillance, so the opposition's allegations carry no truth,” Tripathy said.