AAP councilors protest against cancellation of mayoral polls
The party may move the court after taking legal opinion on the matter, said AAP leader Durgesh Pathak.
Odisha Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Baijayant Panda resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday.
Elected from Kendrapara, Panda was suspended from BJD on 24 January 2018 for his alleged anti-party activities.
Panda has sent his three-page resignation letter to party president Naveen Patnaik.
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As per media reports, in the letter to Patnaik, Panda said that he’s “deeply anguished”.
“It’s with deep anguish, hurt and sorrow that I have decided to quit the politics into which our BJD has descended,” wrote Panda as per media reports.
Panda will convey his decision to the Lok Sabha Speaker in first week of June.
Panda had fallen out of grace of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the last three years and had recently been suspended from the party for anti-party activities.
It is speculated that he may join the Bharatiya Janata Party given his proximity to several national-level BJP leaders.
On May 4, 2018, Kendrapara police had registered criminal proceedings against MP Baijayant Panda on the charge of filing incorrect affidavit during the 2014 general election.
In pursuant to directions issued by the Kendrapara Sub Divisional Magistrate Court , a case was registered against the sitting MP Panda under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) of the IPC, and section 125-A of the Representation of People Act, said Sub Divisional Police Officer, Rajib Lochan Panda.
The SDJM court acting on a petition by Dillip Das, a resident of Thakurhaat, had issued directions to the police to register a criminal case against the sitting Lok Sabha MP and submit a compliance report to the court by 25 July.
The petition maintained that Panda was officiating as Vice Chairman of IMFA and was drawing a salary in crores. But in the election affidavit, he had wilfully concealed the facts which went against the spirit of Representation of People Act.
Investigations into the matter are underway and police will verify the poll documents.
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