BJD ready for early election in Odisha: Naveen

Bhubaneswar: A day after Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat said that the Election Commission (EC) will be ready to hold simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and all state assemblies by the end of next year, Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik today said the party is ready for it.

“If there is an early election, the BJD is always ready for it,” Patnaik said speaking to reporters here.

BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb also echoed Patnaik’s words. “Elections are never contested without strategies. When we are saying we are ready for polls, we mean it. We expect a ‘first division with distinction’ result in the election,” said Deb.

“Firstly, polls are never held as per the will of a particular party. Secondly, if constitutional amendments are done for holding parliament and assembly polls at the same time, that will be a different matter. Such an amendment is yet to be done. If all the states agree to dissolve their respective assemblies and hold elections along with parliament poll, no one can stop it,” said Narasingha Mishra, Leader of Opposition in Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Worth mentioning, Rawat had said the EC can hold the simultaneous election by the end of next year when it will have all the logistics ready.

“A lot of things depend on the logistics. As of now, we do not have that many EVMs as are required. But the government has already sanctioned the money to the Election Commission and we have placed the orders (for EVMs and VVPAT machines) to the manufacturers,” Rawat had said.

“In fact we have started receiving the machines and will get all the deliveries by September 2018. After that we will be able to hold simultaneous elections,” he had said.