Bhubaneswar, May 22 , 2024 : Former Minister and ruling BJD MLA Simulia Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi resigned from the primary membership of the party on Wednesday. Panigrahi, a two time MLA, in a letter to BJD President and party supremo, Naveen Patnaik said he is tendering his resignation from the primary membership of the party. The sitting MLA, who held the position of minister of state for Odia language literature, culture, and tourism from 2019 to 2022 in the Naveen Patnaik government, was denied a party ticket to contest the 2024 elections, and in his place, the BJD had fielded Subhasini Sahu to contest the election. The resignation of Panigrahi will upset the Simulia Assembly seat, going to polls in the last phase of the election on June 1 for the ruling BJD. Panigrahi, in a video message, thanked the chief minister for giving him the opportunity to serve the people of Simulia for one decade and said he would continue to work for the people of his constituency in the future also. The ruling BJD had this time denied party tickets to 36 sitting MLAs and expelled four sitting MLAs for indulging in anti party activities. At least nine BJD sitting MLAs who were denied party ticket have quit the party and joined the BJP. Similarly, two of the four expelled BKD MLAs—Dr. Pradeep Paqnigrahi from the Gopalpur Assembly seat and Prashant Jagdeb from the Chilka Assembly seat, have joined the BJP and are contesting the election. While Pradeep Panigrahi has been fielded from the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, polling of which has already been over, Jagdeb is contesting the Khurdha Assembly seat, polling of which will be held on May 25. Meanwhile, four MLAs who had resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) were issued showcause notices to appear before Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik on May 27 to reply as to why they would not be disqualified from their Assembly membership. They are Nimapara MLA Samir Ranjan Dash, Hindol MLA Simarani Nayak, Athamallik MLA Ramesh Sai and Soro MLA Parshuram Dhada .These MLAs have already joined the BJP, and three of them, barring Sameer Ranjan Dash, are also contesting the 2024 election as BJP candidates. The show cause notice was issued after government Chief Whip Prasanta Muduli filed a petition on Monday before the Odisha Assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of these four legislators under the anti-defection laws. The Speaker had accepted the petition and directed the Odisha Legislative Assembly Secretary to issue show-cause notices to these MLAs . Earlier on April 11, the Odisha Assembly Speaker disqualified two BJD MLAs, Arabinda Dhali and Premananda Nayak, under the anti defection law as per the provision under paragraph 6(1) of the 10th Schedule to the Constitution of India. Both Dhali and Nayak were the BJD MLAs from Jayadev and Telkoi Assembly seats, respectively, who had resigned from the primary membership of the party and joined the BJP. Dhali has been fielded from the Jayadev Assembly constituency as a BJP candidate.
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