Bhubaneswar: In a rare public appearance alongside opposition parties, BJD MPs Manas Mangaraj and Sulata Deo, along with former MP Muzibulla Khan, joined a protest march in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.The move drew sharp criticism from BJP, which accused BJD of aligning with Congress to regain political relevance even as the Naveen Patnaik-led party maintained that it continues to remain equidistant from both NDA and INDIA bloc.Mangaraj, who leads BJD’s parliamentary party in Rajya Sabha, said the party’s participation in the protest was guided by its commitment to safeguarding democratic institutions and electoral integrity.Referring to BJD president Naveen’s earlier demand for the CEC’s resignation, Mangaraj alleged that around 20 lakh voters in Odisha and more than 13 crore nationwide faced exclusion during the SIR exercise, raising a question mark over the integrity of the electoral process.He cited the alleged deletion of 227 votes belonging to members of a minority community in Dhamnagar town without the knowledge of the concerned booth-level officers (BLOs), saying the episode had deepened apprehension over the revision process. According to BJD, thousands of voters were removed from the rolls in Dhamnagar assembly constituency alone.Mangaraj also referred to the voluntary retirement application submitted by Odisha’s chief electoral officer R S Gopalan, saying it had added to the questions surrounding the conduct of the exercise.The BJD MP pointed to recent observations by Supreme Court regarding modifications to Form 6, claiming these raised questions about Election Commission’s earlier position on the SIR exercise. He alleged that the developments warranted scrutiny of CEC’s role.The development comes amid growing signs of issue-based coordination between BJD and Congress. In March, BJD and Congress jointly backed independent candidate Datteswar Hota in the Rajya Sabha election, while Mangaraj attended an INDIA bloc floor leaders’ meeting on delimitation in April.In a cryptic reaction to BJD joining the protest, Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said Naveen had never stood with Congress in his 24 years in power, but had now realised the extent of the Centre’s alleged neglect of Odisha.“Though late, Naveen babu has understood,” Bahinipati said. “While claiming to maintain an equidistant stance, Naveen has invariably supported BJP in the past,” he alleged, adding, “Let Naveen babu announce joining India bloc. We will welcome that.”Reacting sharply to the development, BJP state general secretary Biranchi Narayan Tripathy said BJD was struggling to remain politically relevant because of its declining support base. “While the BJD is free to take political decisions, there is a contradiction between its statements and actions. It claims Congress is responsible for many of Odisha’s problems and talks of maintaining equal distance from both alliances, yet it is increasingly aligning with the Congress,” Tripathy said.Countering BJP’s criticism, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said the party’s stand was driven by concerns over the electoral process and not by alliance politics. “As a responsible political party, BJD has maintained equal distance from both the INDIA Bloc and the NDA. However, by participating in the march, BJD is trying to protect democratic institutions and the integrity of the electoral process,” Mohanty said.