A delegation from the main Opposition party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), met with R S Gopalan, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, on Monday regarding the alleged illegal issuance of second ballot papers to BJP legislators. They submitted a memorandum requesting the cancellation of two votes cast by these legislators in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
Led by Deputy Leader of the BJD Legislature Party, Prasanna Acharya, the BJD claimed that second ballot papers were improperly issued to Brahmagiri MLA Upasana Mohapatra and Khallikote MLA Purna Chandra Sethy after the original ballots had already been marked. The party argued that electors had marked their original ballot papers before requesting the second ballots, which were issued despite objections from the BJD, as the conditions did not meet the statutory requirements outlined in Rule 41 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
The BJD pointed out that the Election Commission Observer had initially denied permission for the issuance of second ballots but later approved it, raising concerns about the statutory compliance under Rule 41 and the lack of lawful justification for categorizing the ballots as ‘spoilt’.
In their memorandum, the BJD stated, “The continuous and multi-level objections by polling agents, election agents, authorised agents, counting agents, candidates, and parliamentary representatives establish beyond doubt that the issue was treated contemporaneously as a grave statutory illegality affecting the sanctity of the election itself.”
During the voting process, BJD president and Leader of Opposition, Naveen Patnaik, publicly addressed the issue. On March 18, 2026, he formally contacted the Election Commission of India via email to highlight the matter. Following this, on April 28, 2026, Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra submitted a detailed representation to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting urgent statutory intervention. The ECI subsequently directed the CEO of Odisha to meet with the BJD delegation to discuss their concerns.
The BJD requested the CEO to reject the votes of Ms. Upasana Mohapatra and Mr. Purna Chandra Sethy for RS candidate Dilip Ray, asserting that this would result in Datteswar Hota being declared elected instead. Additionally, the party called for the CEO to disclose the actions taken regarding their complaints from March 16 and the email sent on March 18 by the BJD president.
Furthermore, the BJD demanded that the CEO secure, preserve, and review all election records related to the incidents, including original cancelled ballot papers, ballot paper accounts, counterfoils, observer reports, polling records, counting proceedings, CCTV footage, and all official documentation conducted by Election Commission personnel, and conduct a thorough, independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the second ballot papers to determine if Rule 41 was violated.
