BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign immediately and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls be revisited.
Naveen Patnaik’s statement came after a newspaper report about differences within the three-member Election Commission over several decisions and instructions relating to electoral roll revision.
“The BJP won elections by using various government agencies. The Congress won one seat. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) His remarks came after a newspaper report about differences within the three-member Election Commission over several decisions and instructions relating to electoral roll revision, including deletion and addition of names, changes in forms for new voters, and access to voter data. Hours after Patnaik’s statement, Odisha BJP alleged that both BJD and Congress were misleading the public over the newspaper article without producing any factual evidence. Tripathy alleged that both the opposition parties were rattled by electoral defeats. BJD, in a statement, defended Patnaik’s statement. “BJP leaders have become spokespersons for the Election Commission. They are giving statements in the media defending the chief election commissioner. “In states like West Bengal, the Supreme Court even oversaw the completion of this process directly. At that time, several judges from Odisha had travelled to West Bengal to supervise the proceedings. “The SIR process was underway in Odisha for about six-seven months. If any irregularities occurred at that time, why did the BJD and Congress not lodge complaints? Tripathy asked. “The SIR process had been carried out in a manner that amounts to the BJP-isation of the electoral process at the direction of the double-engine government. “The CEC had conducted the SIR process in an undemocratic manner.
Therefore, the CEC no longer has the moral authority to discharge his responsibility,” he said. Therefore, he should immediately resign,” Baxipatra added. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, according to the newspaper report. Earlier, the BJD had alleged that several discrepancies took place during the SIR exercise in the state and claimed that over 25 lakh eligible voters were deleted from the electoral rolls. BJD leader and party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty alleged that 27.50 lakh voters in Odisha have been excluded from the electoral rolls at the behest of the BJP. The BJD was defeated by the BJP in the 2024 assembly elections after ruling the state for 24 years. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJD failed to win any of the 21 seats in Odisha, while the BJP bagged 20.
“Because of the sharp differences between election commissioners and the chief election commissioner, the CEC should immediately resign, and the whole SIR process should be thoroughly revisited,” Patnaik told reporters outside the Assembly. “If there is any evidence, the political party concerned should approach the Election Commission or the Supreme Court with the facts,” Odisha BJP general secretary Biranchi Narayan Tripathy told reporters. This clearly establishes that the irregularities in the SIR process have taken place at the behest of the BJP,” it said. Earlier, Patnaik, the leader of the opposition in Odisha Assembly, said the BJD has been against the SIR from the very beginning. “We will take it up very strongly,” Patnaik said, replying to a question on whether his party would hit the streets, demanding the CEC’s resignation. BJP’s Tripathy said various individuals and political parties had approached the Supreme Court regarding SIR at different times, and the top court had declared the process to be entirely valid. In Odisha, the chief electoral officer had frequently held press conferences to present detailed information to the public regarding the number of voters, deletions (and the reasons for them), and new additions,” the BJP leader said. Addressing a press conference, BJD senior general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra said the functioning of the CEC is under a cloud of suspicion. The entire SIR process should be re-examined,” Mohanty said.
