Bhubaneswar: A day after third phase general elections came to an end in the state, BJD and BJP Wednesday accused each other of using muscle power to influence poll outcomes and approached the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) seeking his intervention.
Biju Janata Dal approached the CEO accusing BJP of hooliganism in Brahmagiri and Satyabadi Assembly constituencies during the third phase polls Tuesday.
It has accused the saffron party of ransacking the booths and vandalisation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) at booth no 78 of Kamasasan village in Brahmagiri constituency and Birakishorepur village in Satyabadi constituency of Puri district.
Further, BJD has said that BJP Satyabadi MLA contestant Om Prakash Mishra was directly involved along with his supporters in the incident at booth no 78. Also, BJP workers destroyed EVM machines at Kamasasan in Brahmagiri and physically assaulted a BJD workers present there, it added.
Odisha unit of BJP, however, refuted both these allegations.
Speaking to reporters, party’s state vice-president Samir Mohanty instead accused BJD of booth rigging and using muscle power.
Mohanty met CEO Surendra Kumar and apprised him of alleged irregularities across several booths of Satyabadi and Brahmagiri Assembly constituencies Tuesday.
He also complained about the physical assault on BJP leader Krushna Chandra Jagdev.
“There our leader was beaten up when he reached the booth to protest against rigging by BJD. Even officers in the booth tried to mislead the voters to vote for BJD by suggesting that the Lotus button is nonfunctional. After manhandling him, they lodged a complaint against him blaming him for ransacking the booth,” said Mohanty.
The BJP has sought for a repoll in the affected booths.