‘Fake’ affidavit puts Naveen Patnaik’s entire political career at stake

Naveen Patnaik has been accused of submitting a fake affidavit misrepresenting his election expenditure, for which a complaint has been filed against him under the Representation of People Act.

While the verdict is still awaited, any adverse ruling could mean that Patnaik may lose his seat in the state assembly as well as be disqualified as Odisha’s Chief Minister.

Patnaik began his political career in 1997, after winning the Lok Sabha election for the seat of Aska, left vacant after the death of his father Biju Patnaik.

He has since been climbing up the ladder of Indian politics. After an year of winning the parliamentary election, Patnaik floated the Biju Janata Dal and established himself as a powerful regional leader.

He became a minister at Centre in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1998, resigning from the Union Cabinet in 2000 after the BJD-BJP alliance emerged victorious in the Odisha state elections. Patnaik went on to serve as Odisha’s Chief Minister for four consecutive terms. Into his fourth term now, Patnaik is facing challenges to his state leadership for the first time.

The problem for Naveen Patnaik arose because of the two affidavits submitted to the Election Commission after the assembly elections in Odisha in 2014.

According to an affidavit submitted by the BJD, the party had given him ₹ 10 lakh for poll expenditure, out of which he returned approximately ₹ 6.50 lakh to the party. The party claims that ₹ 10 lakh was transferred to him through cheque.

The affidavit submitted by Naveen Patnaik, on the other hand, claims that he was given approximately ₹13.50 lakh by the party through RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement).

Defending Patnaik, BJD Vice President Sameer Mohanty, in an interview to The Telegraph, said the reports about the inconsistency in these two affidavits were wrong.

According to Mohanty, the information Naveen Patnaik gave in his affidavit, on the expenditure on election campaigning and material, included the cash given by the party for the same. He provided some other figures, too, related to the election expenditure. BJD Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Deb too dismissed this discrepancy in the affidavits as some practical problem in the banking system.

The entire matter came to light when a social activist from Odisha, Subhash Mahapatra, filed an application with the Election Commission in May 2015.

Mahapatra has alleged that he repeatedly went to the Election Commission over the matter, but the electoral body did not take any action straightaway.

In June 2016, he took this matter to the Odisha High Court. In July 2017, the court issued a notice to the EC. Immediately after this the defeated BJP candidate from Naveen Patnaik’s constituency, Devananda Mahapatra, also filed an application with the HC on the same matter. Subhash Mahapatra claims that HC Judge SK Mishra wrote to the Election Commission asking them not to take any action on the notice issued by the court.

Suspecting that the Odisha High Court may defer the entire issue, Subhash Mahapatra filed a petition with the Supreme Court.

Considering this, Mishra withdrew himself from the case. On October 27, Supreme Court judges Justice Arun Mishra and Justice L Nageshwar Rao heard the case and passed the order that the EC should take action on Mahapatra’s application at the earliest. The EC expressed the same intention in the court.

With more than a month having been passed since the case was heard in the apex court, a decision is still awaited on Subhash Mahapatra’s application. The question that Subhash Mahapatra has raised is – “What is the meaning of ‘at the earliest’? Does this have a deadline or time limit?”

Whenever there is a decision, it would be interesting to see as to which way it swings.

BJD MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo is confident that the decision would pose no problem for Naveen Patnaik or the BJD.

He told National Herald, “When the complaint was filed with the Election Commission, a supervisor had come in from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and had said that the complaint carried no weight.”

Deo said that he had no knowledge of the latest developments on the matter, adding nevertheless that the entire case was shallow and politically motivated.

He said the Election Commission would take the decision based on facts and all the facts stood in favour of the BJD and Naveen Patnaik.

Some political analysts opine that the Election Commission in recent days had been accused of working under pressure from Centre.

If they are to be believed, then it is possible that the Modi government may strike a ‘compromise’ with Naveen Patnaik.

It is a well-known fact that the BJP has long been trying hard to come to power in Odisha and sources say that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is being seen as the possible chief ministerial candidate of the BJP.

In response to this question related to the Election Commission, BJD MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said, “It is a matter of concern that the Election Commission’s functioning is being influenced by Centre. During the announcement on Gujarat Assembly polls dates, we have witnessed the same.”

When asked what the BJD would do if the EC’s judgment was against the CM, Deo said, “If the Election Commission gives a judgment against Naveen Patnaik, then there must be a legal way to sort it out.”