Bhubaneswar, Apr 5: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday alleged that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has used government officials to campaign in favour of the State's ruling party candidates for the upcoming general elections in Odisha.

A BJP delegation led by state vice-president Golak Mohapatra in a petition to Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) alleged that several State government officials are openly campaigning for the BJD candidates for the upcoming elections to Lok Sabha and State Assembly Polls.

Mohapatra said that one Alok Kumar Das, an official of Patita Paban College in Keonjhar district, openly campaigned in favour of MLA Badri Narayan Patra as well as his son and BJD leader Debashis Patra for the upcoming polls, which was covered in some prominent newspapers.

Similarly, Prakash Kumar Swain, the civil supply officer of Dhauli and Lingipur panchayats, is openly campaigning for BJD's MLA candidate for North-Bhubaneswar constituency.

These two officers have violated Section 129 of the Representation of the People Act-1951 by campaigning for the ruling BJD, Mohapatra said.

The BJP leader also said that they have submitted videos and photos of the government officers campaigning for the BJD candidates in their respective areas.

"We have demanded strict action against both of the officials," he added.

MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, BJP state secretary Kasturi Mishra, spokesperson Dilip Mallik, senior leaders Pinky Pradhan and Jayant Jena were part of the delegation.

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