BJD cries foul after Nuapada defeat: Party alleges booth rigging; cites high voter turnout

NEW DELHI: BJD on Sunday rejected the Nuapada by-poll results after finishing third behind the BJP and the Congress, accusing the Election Commission of India of failing to stop “rigging” by the ruling BJP.

The by-poll was held after the death of the sitting BJD MLA. His son, Jay Dholakia, was expected to contest as the BJD candidate but switched to the BJP and became its nominee. The BJD then fielded its women’s wing chief, Snehangini Chhuria.


At a press conference at the party headquarters, Chhuria said, “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.”

Dholakia won the seat with over 1.23 lakh votes. Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi came second with 40,121 votes, and Chhuria finished third with 38,408 votes.

Chhuria alleged that the BJP “manipulated” the election using administrative machinery and police support. She claimed the Nuapada district collector, the district election officer, and the SP acted like “BJP agents” and failed to act on complaints of electoral malpractice. She also said the high voter turnout in 41 booths, crossing 90 per cent for the first time, was “suspicious”.

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She accused the ECI of changing voter turnout figures multiple times. According to her, the commission first announced 75 per cent turnout at 5 pm on 14 November, later raised it to 77 per cent, then 81 per cent the next morning, and finally revised it to 83.45 per cent.

Chhuria said the BJP gained from “rigging” carried out with help from local officials. She claimed that BJD leaders followed the ECI’s 48-hour silence rule and left the district, but BJP leaders stayed back and “distributed money”.

She also alleged that a BJD worker who filed a complaint was detained under the Arms Act, while complaints about BJP workers entering booths were ignored.

BJP general secretary Biranchi Tripathy rejected all allegations and said the BJD should “introspect” instead of questioning the voters’ decision.

"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," news agency PTI quoted Tripathy as saying.

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