Bhubaneswar, May 22: The Odisha Assembly Speaker has issued show-cause notices to four MLAs who recently resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to join the BJP.

The legislators in question are Samir Ranjan Dash from Nimapara, Simarani Nayak from Hindol, Ramesh Sai from Athamallick, and Parshuram Dhada from Soro. They have been instructed to respond to the notices by May 27, providing reasons why they should not face disqualification from their Assembly membership due to defection.

The government Chief Whip, Prasanta Muduli, submitted a petition to Speaker Pramila Mallik seeking the disqualification of these MLAs under anti-defection laws. The Speaker accepted the petition and instructed the Assembly secretary to issue the notices.

These four MLAs had recently switched allegiance from the BJD to the BJP following their denial of tickets by the former party.

In a related development, two other MLAs, Arabinda Dhali and Premananda Nayak, were already disqualified for defecting to the BJP.

Parshuram Dhada has been nominated as the BJP's candidate for the Soro seat, Simarani for the Hindol constituency, and Arabinda Dhali for the Jayadev Assembly seat. Following his denial of a ticket, Samir Dash recently joined the BJP, expressing his commitment to support the party's candidate to victory.

Powered by Froala Editor