Congressmen demand probe into party's Orissa poll debacle

After suffering a humiliating defeat in the assembly polls, a host of Congress leaders in Orissa today faxed petitions to AICC president Sonia Gandhi demanding a probe into the "bunglings" in distribution of tickets.     

Some freedom fighters even alleged that party tickets had been "sold", party sources said.     

"The reason behind the party's humiliating defeat needs to be probed by a high level team appointed by the Congress high command", former MP Sriballabh Panigrahi said in a statement.     

The Congress which had 38 MLAs in the 13th Orissa assembly could win only 26 seats in the 147-member house after being drubbed in its bastions like tribal-dominated southern region and elsewhere.     

The Congress failed to win a single seat in as many as nine of the state's 30 districts, he claimed.     

Despite improving its tally in Lok Sabha polls from two seats in 2004 elections to six, the Congress lost in its strongholds like Koraput and Berhampur constituencies.     

Though PCC president K P Singhdeo humbly accepted the verdict, party's senior leaders, including former chief minister J B Patnaik blamed the state leadership for the crushing defeat at the hustings.

"The leadership failed to highlight the UPA government's achievements in the state," said the three time chief minister who was earlier confident of Congress emerging as the single largest party in the assembly.     

Many defeated Congress candidates also alleged foul play and manipulations in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).     

"Some EVMs were faulty and defective. If one pushed the button close to hand symbol of Congress, the vote was registered in favour of BJD's conch", Patnaik said.     

To make matters worse for the state leadership, some of the petitions given to the Congress high command also quoted amount of money allegedly given for getting party tickets, the sources said.     

Former minister and senior leader Niranjan Patnaik, who also lost, expressed surprise at the poll results and alleged that the ruling BJD had taken recourse to "money power" to influence the voters in each segment.     

Besides Giridhar Gamang, veterans like union minister Chandrasekhar Sahoo, leader of opposition Ulaka Ramachandra, AICC secretary Jaydev Jena and PCC working president Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra lost the polls.