The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) joined the high-profile opposition demonstration on Parliament Street on Tuesday against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, while explicitly maintaining its political independence from both the opposition INDIA alliance and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Speaking during the demonstration in New Delhi, BJD Rajya Sabha MP Sulata Deo emphasized that the regional party was participating strictly as a responsible political entity concerned about large-scale voter roll manipulation.
Highlighting the principled approach of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik, party MP Sulata Deo declared in New Delhi that the regional outfit’s decision to protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar was driven strictly by Patnaik’s mandate to defend democratic rights.
Deo underscored that Patnaik was among the first leaders to voice deep concern over mass voter roll deletions and to demand the poll chief’s resignation.
”27 lakh 50 thousand voters were cut, and look, 13 crore people have been cut across the whole country. Who told them to cut these names? It shows that orders were coming straight from the BJP office, and they were just following and signing off on them. That’s how it came to light, right? They used letterheads from the party office bearing the lotus symbol…”
She further alleged widespread corruption and electoral manipulation in the SIR process, invoking former BJD Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik, who recently joined the BJP:
”There’s so much corruption there and so much rigging that you wouldn’t even believe it. We kept going to Gyanesh Kumar over and over. Ask Amar Patnaik ji, who joined the Bharatiya Party—he’ll tell you exactly how the votes were rigged. Because of this, we’re taking action here.”
”It is a clear statement by our leader Naveen Patnaik that we are neither with the INDIA alliance nor with the NDA. As a responsible political party, it is our right to speak up for our people. What CEC Gyanesh Kumar did is a murder of democracy,” Deo stated.
Deo further pointed out that officials within the state electoral machinery were operating under unbearable administrative duress, pointing to the latest developments surrounding Odisha Chief Electoral Officer Santhana Gopalan:
”And look over there—our state’s election commissioner, Sanat Gopalan, was put under so much pressure that he also applied for VRS today. What is going on? The Biju Janata Dal will join today’s protest against this on behalf of the people. We have always been for the people, we are for the people, and we will always be for the people. On whose orders was Form 6 issued, and how many people does it affect?”
Party chief Naveen Patnaik has consistently demanded Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, affirming that BJD’s presence in the street demonstrations is driven solely by the protection of citizens’ voting rights rather than alliance politics.
