The Biju Janata Dal has suspended six of its Members of the Legislative Assembly for cross-voting during the recent elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. The MLAs suspended are Chakramani Kanhar from Baliguda, Naba Kishore Mallick from Jayadev, Souvic Biswal from Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena from Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi from Tirtol, and Devi Ranjan Tripathy from Banki.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s Political Affairs Committee, chaired by party President Naveen Patnaik. According to party sources, the action followed examination of the legislators’ replies to show-cause notices and a detailed review by the BJD disciplinary committee.
Earlier, the Congress had also suspended three of its MLAs, Sofia Firdous, Ramesh Jena and Dasarathi Gamango, from the party for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. The Rajya Sabha elections in the state were held on the 16th of this month.
