By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: In the 2018 Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections, due to an ‘unintentional’ error, the election officer gave a second set of ballot papers to two Congress MLAs to cast their votes.
A controversy arose during the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha on Monday, involving BJP MLA Upasana Mohapatra (representing Brahmagiri constituency in Puri district).
The issue centered on her voting process in the Odisha Assembly:Upasana Mohapatra reportedly made a mistake by overwriting on her ballot paper while marking her vote.
She requested (and was issued) a second ballot paper to correct the error and cast her vote properly.
This led to objections from the opposition, particularly the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Naveen Patnaik (former CM and current Leader of Opposition).
Naveen Patnaik strongly protested, alleging that: The initial vote should have been rejected due to the overwriting (a common invalidation reason in ballot-based elections like Rajya Sabha polls).
Allowing a second ballot and accepting her vote was illegal, against democratic norms, and a violation of election rules.
He claimed this undermined the integrity of the election process, and officers in charge ignored objections.
The dispute caused a temporary halt in voting for about 30 minutes, with BJD and some Congress members raising objections.
The broader context of the polls included tensions over potential horse-trading and cross-voting risks due to a competitive field (5 candidates for 4 seats, with BJP and BJD in a close contest without clear majorities for all seats).
This incident unfolded amid heightened political drama in Odisha’s Rajya Sabha polls, which returned after a 12-year gap (last uncontested in prior cycles). As of the latest updates, the voting process continued despite the objection, but it fueled accusations from the opposition against the ruling BJP’s handling of the election.
