Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today moved the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging grave misconduct by Odisha-cadre IAS officer Sujata R. Karthikeyan with regard to the implementation of SVEEP programme for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

Sujata Karthikeyan, the wife of bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian, has been posted as the Mission Shakti department Commissioner-cum-Secretary in Odisha.

In its complaint before the ECI, the BJP alleged that Sujata Karthikeyan has given a go-bye to professionalism and is now acting as an agent of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the state.

“VK Pandian has joined the ruling BJD in Odisha after taking voluntary retirement from his IAS job. Being the wife of VK Pandian, Sujata Karthikeyan should have proceeded on leave and dissociated herself from anything to do with public dealing during the elections. Instead of doing so, she is actively participating in the elections as a front person of the BJD in a manner which has been unheard of earlier,” said the BJP delegation comprising Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Sudhanshu Trivedi and Om Pathak in its complaint before the ECI.

The BJP delegation further alleged that the Mission Shakti department is being utilised by the BJD government in Odisha to influence voters ahead of the twin polls.

“The Mission Shakti department has been compelling the members of the women Self-help Groups (SHGs) to influence the voters to vote for BJD in the upcoming polls. All these illegalities are being done while implementing the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme for 2024 Parliamentary and Assembly polls,” alleged the BJP in its complaint.

The BJP has urged the ECI to take immediate steps to relieve Sujata Karthikeyan from Mission Shakti Commissioner-cum-Secretary post in Odisha. It also urged the ECI not to assign the IAS officer any public dealing duty till the completion of the twin polls.