TNI Bureau: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of failing to provide clear answers to several questions regarding alleged irregularities in the 2024 elections, even nineteen months after the polls.

At a press conference at Sankha Bhawan, BJD leaders Dr. Santrupt Misra and Dr. Lekhasree Samanta Singhar said that Form 17C — which contains booth-wise data of votes polled — has still not been uploaded on the ECI website. They said discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted in several booths raise serious concerns about electoral transparency.

Dr. Misra said the party had sought copies of Form 17C after finding mismatches, but the Commission cited pending court cases in 28 constituencies as the reason for not releasing the data. He questioned why the form was not provided for other constituencies where no cases are pending.

He also raised concerns over an unexplained increase of 7% to 30% in voter turnout figures reported at 5 PM on polling day across all 21 Lok Sabha and 38 Assembly constituencies in Odisha, calling it unusual and unexplained.

Dr. Lekhasree Samanta Singhar cited specific examples, including a discrepancy of 682 votes in booth number 57 of Phulbani Assembly constituency and excess counts of 660 and 784 votes in booths 165 and 219 of Talsara Assembly constituency.

The party also demanded that political parties be allowed to participate in periodic audits of EVMs to improve transparency.

BJD leaders said the Election Commission must provide clear explanations to uphold public confidence and strengthen democracy.