Bijepur bypoll: BJD accuses BJP of influencing women voters

The ruling BJD today accused the BJP of "influencing" women voters of bypoll-bound Bijepur assembly constituency with its "mehendi" campaign.
The by-election to the Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha will be held on February 24 and the counting of votes will take place on February 28.
In a petition to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha, the BJD said BJP workers are drawing their party symbol "lotus" with mehendi on the palms of women.
"It has come to our notice that BJP workers are applying 'Lotus' mehendi on the palms of women in Bijepur and influencing and instigating them to display the symbol to other voters, for which they will get a reward," BJD's general secretary Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi said in his plea.

Such action and conduct of BJP workers is in clear violation of the model code of conduct for the by-elections, Panigrahi said, seeking immediate action from the Election Commission.
The ruling party also alleged that the BJP has collected bank account details of over 35,000 voters of the constituency and promised them monetary benefits in exchange of their support for the saffron party's candidate.

"It is further confidentially learnt that certain public sector undertakings of Government of India have been asked by the BJP to transfer money out of their CSR funds for this purpose," Panigrahi said in another petition to the CEO.

BJP spokesperson Pitamber Acharya, however, rubbished the allegations and said the ruling party is "frustrated".
"The BJD is making false allegations against the BJP as they fear losing the poll," he said.
The saffron party accused Padmapur subdivisional police officer Laxminarayan Panda of favouring the ruling BJD and sought action against him.
A BJP delegation, led by its vice-president Samir Mohanty, also demanded ED and IT investigation into the recent cash recovery in the assembly segment.
"How did the police conclude that the recovered money belonged to BJP without any investigation into the matter," Mohanty asked.
The police had on Saturday had seized Rs 40.5 lakh from a car and arrested two persons in this connection.