Bhubaneswar, February 12: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Sunday debarred senior BJD MLA and Government Chief Whip in Assembly, Pramila Malik from campaigning in the three-tier Panchayat Poll for 48 hours from 14 February (10 AM).
“The Commission disapproves of the conduct of Malik, MLA Binjharpur and debars her from campaigning, including interviews, public utterances in media (electronic, print, social media),etc. anywhere in the State of Odisha for a period of 48 hours starting from 10.00 AM of 14 February 2022 in the ensuing general elections to Panchayati Raj Institution (PRIs), 2022,” said SEC Secretary RN Sahu in a letter to the District Collector.
During the campaign at Zilla Parishad Zone – 27 in Jajpur district on last Thursday, Malik had allegedly threatened the voters to stop their monthly old age person, Re 1/kg rice and pucca houses being provided under Government schemes if they do not vote for BJD candidates.
On the direction of the SEC, the Jajpur Collector had earlier issued a show cause notice to Malik.
Earlier, on the recommendation of the SEC, the State Government had suspended Maa Tarini College Principal Bikash Das (Kendrapara) and Salipur Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Prasanta Majhi for organising a political meeting in the premises of college.
