Opposition seek SEC intervention into poll discrepancies

Bhubaneswar: Opposition BJP and Congress brought serious allegations of discrepancies in evaluation of votes during the recent Panchayat Polls while seeking the State Election Commission’s (SEC) intervention into the case during a meeting today.

A BJP delegation led by party Vice President Samir Mohanty met the state election commissioner RN Senapati and apprised him of the situation.

Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Mohanty alleged ruling party of using government machinery during vote counting leading to extensive irregularities in the final results of the five phase three tier civic polls in the state.

“Many of our winning Zilla Parishad candidates have lost their seats after the final counting,” he said.

Earlier, on Sunday, the BJP alleged the ruling party has snatched away 34 Zilla Parishad candidates from them after a party review meeting on panchayat elections.

The Congress too met the SEC with a team led by Opposition Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati complaining of forgery in counting which led to loss of winning party’s Zilla Parishad candidates.

Notably, after the conclusion of Panchayat Polls the BJD topped the results claiming 473 Zilla Parishad zones followed by BJP with 297 seats and Congress in the third spot with only 60 seats.