VK Pandian’s chopper searched by election officials in Odisha

Poll officials in Odisha Friday checked the helicopter ferrying IAS-turned-politician V K Pandian at Umerkote, under the state’s Nabarangpur parliamentary constituency.

The search was conducted for around 45 minutes by a team of five officials, led by the local magistrate, in the presence of police personnel. Pandian was addressing a rally when the search was carried out.

“The exercise was carried out as per the direction of the Election Commission of India. No suspect items found during the search operation,” said official sources.

Pandian, who is leading the BJD campaign for the upcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls, Friday travelled to Umerkote, Jharigaon, Dabugaon and Nabarangpur assembly segments to seek votes for party candidates.

Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat, along with three other parliamentary constituencies – Koraput, Kalahandi and Berhampur – and 28 assembly segments will go to polls on May 13.

The former bureaucrat is next to BJD chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the BJD’s star campaigners’ list. A day after Patnaik kickstarted the BJD’s campaign from his home turf, Hinjili, Pandian has been leading the party campaign from the front.

On Thursday, he addressed four meetings, with BJD sources saying he will travel all 147 assembly segments seeking votes for party candidates.

Recently, the state government had accorded ‘Z’ category security to the former IAS officer, while upgrading security of four other senior leaders of the state. The BJD’s official poster also features Pandian along with the party’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das.

The BJD faces a stiff contest from the BJP, which made significant gains in the last Lok Sabha polls.

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