BHUBANESWAR: Suspecting foul play by the BJD in the run-up to the Umerkote bypoll, the Congress on Wednesday moved the Election Commission demanding deployment of Central Para-military Forces (CPMFs). The party has already raised doubts over the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and sought ballot papers for the November 30 election. In a letter to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Srinivasan, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) alleged that a large number of ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders of the BJD are camping in the Assembly constituency in a desperate bid to retain the seat. The BJD leaders are trying to woo the voters by any means, the letter said, adding that in this condition, the Congress doubts whether a free and fair poll will be possible on November 30. The letter alleged that the Maoist threat to the candidates has been spread by BJD propaganda machine so that more numbers of Odisha police can be deployed in the constituency. The OPCC said posters were pasted at Umerkote supposedly by Maoists some days back. But no Maoist group had owned it up. This has given rise to the suspicion that the Maoist threat was the handiwork of the BJD to go ahead with its designs without any check. The Congress also took strong exception to the opening of the godown of the EVMs at Umerkote for scrutiny without informing the candidates. Later, the EVM machines were scrutinised in the presence of all the candidates. This has strengthened suspicion about the intentions of the poll managers of the BJD, it added. The BJP had also earlier stated that the fear of Maoist threat was spread by the BJD to exploit the situation in its favour.
Comments
0 comment