It has been alleged that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, during filing of his nomination papers for Hinjli Assembly constituency in Ganjam district has not mentioned a police case pending against him.
This complaint has been lodged before the concerned Returning Officer at Chatrapur, by Rabi Rath, who has also filed nomination for the Hinjli Assembly constituency as candidate of Samata Kranti Dal. As per the allegation of Mr. Rath, a person named Bhabani Shankar Parija had filed a complaint against Mr. Patnaik in Capital police station in Bhubaneswar on December 28, 2010.
The complainant had alleged that Mr. Patnaik had dishonoured the national flag. According to Mr. Rath, this case is still pending against Mr. Patnaik. But he has not mentioned it in any of his affidavits filed along with the nomination papers. According to Mr. Rath, during filing of nomination papers the Chief Minister has claimed that he has no cases pending against him.
When contacted, the additional sub-collector, Sudhakar Sabar, who is the Returning Officer for Hinjli Assembly segment, said he has received the complaint of Mr. Rath. He said he would inform it to the Election Commission for further action in relation to the complaint. As per the norms the Returning Officer has to check out if all necessary documents and information are furnished by the candidate or not. The Returning Officer is not the person to enquire the authenticity of the furnished data.
