Samruddha Odisha demands repoll in Laxmipur bypoll

Bhubaneswar, Apr 13 (UNI) Samruddha Odisha (SO), a regional political outfit, accusing of widescale violation of election rules in yesterday's Laxmipur (ST) Assembly bypolls today demanded the Election Commission to order a repoll in the entire constituency.

SO President J C Mohanty told mediapersons here that his party would take up the issue with the President to uphold the sanctity of democracy if the EC did not concede his demand within two days.

The SO demanded the EC to withhold the counting of votes scheduled to be held on April 16, conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations and order a repoll.

Mr Mohanty said as many as 48 MLAs and 11 ministers were engaged to influence the voters in favour of the ruling BJD candidate.

He also alleged that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had used helicopters to attend several election meetings and no restriction was imposed by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Crores of rupees was distributed, electrification of villages was done and new tube wells were dug to woo the voters in violation of the norms, Mr Mohanty alleged.

He said the ruling party had spent around Rs seven crore in the bypolls against the limit of Rs 10 lakh fixed by the Election Commission and demanded an independent inquiry into it.

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