Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and called for a thorough review of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Speaking to reporters outside the Odisha Assembly, Patnaik said reported differences among members of the Election Commission raised concerns over the manner in which the SIR process was being conducted.

“Because of the strong differences between the various Election Commissioners, the Chief Election Commissioner should immediately resign and the whole SIR process should be thoroughly revisited,” Patnaik said. He added that the BJD had opposed the SIR process from the beginning and would raise the issue strongly.

His remarks came after an investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders of the poll panel. The objections reportedly covered issues including the addition of voters, deletion of names from electoral rolls and the functioning of the Commission's centralised systems. 

The Election Commission has rejected the allegations raised in the report.

Patnaik raises MMDR Act issue

Patnaik also targeted the BJP over the MMDR Act, questioning why the party's MPs from Odisha supported the Bill in Parliament.

“As far as the MMDR Act is concerned, why blame others when 20 Lok Sabha MPs from Odisha belonging to the BJP supported this Bill in Parliament?” he asked.

The BJD president said his party would take up the matter with the Odisha government and seek its intervention. He urged the state government to pause and examine the legislation, claiming that its implementation could result in a significant loss of revenue for Odisha.