Bijepur bypoll echoes in Puri as Narasingha Mishra takes up cash for votes issue

Puri: Raising the issue of cash-for-votes,  Congress leader and Leader of OpppostionNarasingha Mishra on Sunday said crores of rupees have been spent while each voter has been offered Rs 5,000 in Bijepur byelection.

“We have got Rs 5000 per vote. How much you will offer? A voter asked me during campaigning in Bijepur. If one voter is offered Rs 5,000, one can imagine how much money would have been spent in the bypoll as there are 2.21 lakh voters in the constituency ,” Mishra said while addressing a seminar organised by University Law College here.

He further said “it is not a matter of Rs 1 crore or 10 crore, crores of rupees are being spent for victory in one election at a time when we are talking about a cash-less society”.

So, a major reform in election rules is a need of the hour, he maintained.

On the other hand, Minister Maheswar Mohanty, who also attended the seminar, responded that the situation is  precarious if the remarks of Mishra are true.

He further pointed out that given the present scenario even Mahatma Gandhi would have lost election without money had he been alive.