Polling for the four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha was halted for about half an hour over a dispute on the issuance of a second ballot paper to a BJP MLA.
The opposition BJD agent objected to the issuance of a second ballot paper to BJP MLA Upasana Mohapatra, who had sought another ballot paper for overwriting the one issued in her name earlier.
Later, Mohapatra was allowed to cast her vote.
However, BJD president Naveen Patnaik strongly objected to the issuance of a second ballot paper to the BJP MLA.
"The lady MLA from Brahmagiri made a clear mistake while voting. However, the officers present in the voting room, who are in charge, have illegally accepted her vote and issued a second ballot paper. This is completely against democratic norms and a violation of election rules. We strongly object to this. Some of our members have raised the issue, but they are not listening, thereby destroying the democratic election process," Patnaik told reporters.
Ruling BJP MLA Saroj Padhi said, "There is no harm in issuing another ballot paper to a voter. The voter may be provided with the second ballot paper if she has not shown the first paper to the party agent present at the booth."
The BJP has fielded its state party president Manmohan Samal and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar as official candidates and supported former Union minister Dilip Ray as an Independent nominee.
The BJD nominees are party leader Santrupt Misra and eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota. The Congress and the CPI(M) are supporting Hota.