A day after the electoral fate of 14 candidates of the Nuapada by-poll in Odisha was sealed in EVMs, both the main opposition BJD and the ruling BJP on Wednesday asserted that the victory will be theirs.
The Congress, on the other hand, alleged massive “vote chori” in Nuapada, though its candidate Ghasiram Majhi claimed that he will win.
The by-election registered a huge voter turnout of 83.45 per cent.
Addressing a press conference here, senior women BJD leaders including Opposition Chief whip Pramila Mallik, the party's Political Affairs Committee member Tukuni Sahu and student wing president Ipsita Sahu, claimed that party nominee Snehangini Chhuria will win the polls despite alleged all-out efforts by the BJP to mislead the voters.
“We expect that the winning margin will be around 10,000. However, we are not sure because the ruling party had brought a truckload of EVMs from Ganjam district a day before voting. They might have replaced the original EVMs,” Mallik claimed.
She said that the party has drawn the attention of the state's Chief Electoral Officer to various violations of the model code of conduct allegedly committed by the BJP. Mallik claimed that the BJP distributed saris and money among women during campaigning, police raided houses of BJD leaders ahead of the polls, and the leader of the opposition, Naveen Patnaik's helicopter was deliberately delayed for three hours.
She also alleged that during the silence period, 48 hours before polling, outside BJD leaders left Nuapada constituency, but those of the BJP stayed and distributed money among voters.
Alleging that the BJP campaigned inside booths while the polling was underway, Mallik said that although a complaint was filed with the authorities with evidence of this violation, no results were obtained.
She claimed that despite all these, the BJP will fail to win as the people of Nuapada have expressed their unwavering support to the BJD.
Tukuni Sahu alleged that the BJP has crossed all limits in terms of violating the election code of conduct and abusing government machinery to influence the election. The government employees engaged in the election work, were behaving like BJP agents, she claimed.
“There was a complaint that any button pressed during voting on the EVM in booth number 250 would vote for Lotus, and there was a commotion there. But that too was suppressed. The claim of free and fair elections in the Nuapada by-election turned into a farce,” Sahu said.
Rejecting the BJD allegations, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said, “BJD leaders are now rehearsing on what to say after the defeat on November 14. BJP candidate Jay Dholakia will win the polls with an impressive margin.”
BJP state president Manmohan Samal said the BJD should learn to accept the people's verdict.
“They have been rejected by people in the 2024 general elections and now the voters of Nuapada will also take similar action. They are making allegations without any basis,” Samal said.
