Bhubaneswar, July 19: Controversy marred voting for the presidential polls on the Odisha Assembly premises here today as the ballot of a BJD MLA was rejected while that of another is under scrutiny following a complaint by the Congress.

This was an unexpected turn of events for the BJD, which, haunted as it was by the fears of cross-voting on the eve of polling, had tutored its MLAs, especially the first-timers, well in advance about how to cast their ballots.

The presiding officer rejected the ballot of Cuttack Sadar MLA Pravat Biswal, currently under suspension from the BJD for his alleged participation in the failed coup against chief minister Naveen Patnaik, as it had not been folded properly. The MLA, believed to be an acolyte of Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra is certain to incur the wrath of the chief minister, who is backing P.A. Sangma and has made his election a prestige issue.

Biswal, however, pleaded innocence, saying that his mistake was not intentional. He also appealed to the central observer deputed to Bhubaneswar to oversee polling not to cancel his ballot. Senior BJD leader Damodar Rout, however, sought to give the episode a political spin. “He has voted in the presidential poll in the past. Hence anyone could think that the mistake was intentional. But, it might be an accident as well,” he said.

The vote of Jajpur BJD MLA Pranab Prakash Das turned controversial when Opposition Congress alleged that he had shown his ballot to the officials. Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan lodged a written complaint with the returning officer, who is examining the issue.

Of the 147 members in the Odisha Assembly, 145 cast their votes in room No. 54 of the Vidhan Soudha. The two exceptions were CPI MLA Adikanda Sethi, who refrained from voting in keeping with the party line, and Basudev Majhi, the ailing Congress MLA from Kotpad who came with an oxygen tube attached to his nose but still failed to make it to the polling room.

However, the BJD leaders alleged that he was prevented from voting by the Congress which feared that he might defy the party line. “It is unfortunate that the Congress debarred a tribal MLA from voting,” said Rout.

The Congress refuted the charge, saying that the MLA’s health was its supreme concern. Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh said: “Pranab Mukherjee is going to win in any case. So, we did not take a risk with Majhi as no one was allowed to accompany the ailing legislator into the polling booth.”

The BJD had taken care to avoid cross-voting. The party sent its MLAs to the polling areas in batches of four to five. Sources said the chief minister was angry that despite such precautions one vote of the party had been cancelled while another had become suspect.

The first person to cast his vote today was Congress stalwart and leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh while chief minister was the last to arrive in the polling room. Two BJD MLAs, Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha and Prasuram Panigrahi, came on wheel chairs to cast their votes.

BJD-backed Independent Rajya Sabha member A.V. Swamy, who happened to be in Bhubaneswar, cast his ballot in the Odisha Assembly.