Prasanna Acharya

Cuttack, June 28: Seven prominent candidates who lost in the Assembly elections in the state this year have approached Orissa High Court challenging the election of MLAs from Bijepur, Brahmagiri, Khandapada, Soro, Bhawanipatna, Chilika and Mohana seats. They have raised election disputes alleging lapses in manner of conduct of polls as well as counting of votes.

Veteran BJD leader and former minister Prasanna Acharya, senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and former MP and Ama Odisha Party president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik presented their election petitions in person before the registrar (judicial ) G. Mohapatra, through their counsel today. Acharya, Mohapatra and Patnaik had lost from Bijepur, Brahmagri and Khandapada Assembly constituencies respectively.

The other four petitions were filed yesterday by former MLAs Mrutyunjaya Jena, Dushmant Nayak, Dasarathi Gamang and Raghunath Sahu, who lost from Soro, Bhawanipatna, Mohana and Chilika seats respectively.

The petition filed by Mrutunjaya Jena, who lost as the Congress candidate from Soro, has alleged that the elected MLA, Parsuram Dhada, “fraudulently obtained a scheduled caste certificate to contest from the reserved constituency”.

The six other petitions have alleged “manipulation in the conduct of polls as well as process of counting of votes”.

Senior advocate Pitambar Acharya, who filed the petitions said: “All the petitions have prayed to set aside the election from the seven Assembly seats on the ground that they were held in total non-compliance with the provisions of the Representation of People Act and the rules and orders framed there under.”

While BJD’s Prasanna Acharya had lost from the Bijepur seat to Subal Sahu of Congress by a margin of 458 votes, Ama Odisha Party’s Soumya Ranjan Patnaik lost from Khandapada by a margin 595 votes and Congress’s Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra lost from Brahmagiri to BJD’s Sanjay Das Burma by 1,341 votes.