Orissa Assembly Speaker violated Code of Conduct: SEC

Bhubaneswar, Feb 12 (UNI) Orissa State Election Commission (SEC) officer Sanjeeb Chandra Hota today directed the Puri District Collector to lodge a formal complaint against Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mohanty for allegedly violating the code of conduct during the panchayat elections in the state.

Official sources here said the SEC had asked the Puri Collector to direct the Sub-Collector to lodge a complaint against the Speaker under section 188 of the IPC for the violation of code of conduct in the Chandanpur Police station and comply the report to him.

The SEC on Friday directed the State Director General of Police to order a crime branch inquiry into the allegation of misuse of the Assembly vehicle for carrying election material of the ruling BJD.

Mr Hota has also asked Speaker Maheswar Mohanty to give his explanation on the use of the Assembly vehicle for election purpose by February 11 last. The Speaker, who himself ordered an inquiry into the incident, sought one more day to give his explanation on the issue.

The SEC which had sought a report from the District Magistrate and Sub-Collector of Puri on the incident, asked the DGP to inquire into the matter by the Deputy Inspector General of Crime Branch.

Official sources said the District Collector and the Sub-Collector had submitted their reports to the SEC and the latter, on the basis of the reports, directed the Collector to lodge a formal complaint against the Speaker at the Chandanpur police station.

Two government employees were arrested on February 7 for allegedly carrying election material of the ruling BJD in the official vehicle of the Orissa Assembly.

The Chandanpur police have registered a case against Bijay Kumar Mishra and Dilip Kumar Samantray after sub-collector Pravakar Sarangee filed a written complaint with police about the detection of party's election materials from the government vehicle.

The opposition Congress has demanded resignation of Mr Mohanty on moral grounds for violating the model code of conduct in the panchayat elections.

Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary and former Puri MLA Uma Ballav Rath also submitted a memorandum to Governor Rameswar Thakur urging him to intervene in the matter and ask the Speaker to resign from his present responsibility.

AICC General Secretary V Narayan Swami, who took strong exception to the incident, had announced that they would take up the matter with the Central Election Commission(CEC) if the SEC failed to initiate any action against the Speaker.

UNI