The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging misuse of public money by the BJD-led Odisha government to promote party.
Senior BJP leader Jatin Mohanty filed the complaint along with lawyers at the ECI in Delhi.
“We met the Election Commissioner and lodged our complaint. We demanded the Commission to make the Odisha government reimburse public money worth hundreds of crores of rupees spent by them to promote BJD party. The electoral symbol of the BJD should be freezed too,” said Jatin Das.
The saffron party alleged that the Odisha government has already spent crores of rupees from the State exchequer on political programmes. Besides, the State government is using party symbol (Conch) in expensive newspaper advertisements which is a clear violation of ECI norms, alleged the BJP.
No comments from the BJD could be received on the allegations levelled by the BJP.
Last year in October, as per an RTI reply, the BJD dispensation spent a whopping Rs 378 crore in advertisements in a span of five years.
As per the allegations, the ruling BJD spent over Rs 378.629 crore on self-propagation. The advertisements include front pages of newspaper advertisements and roadside hoardings.