No MCC Violation by Niti Aayog in Sharing Level Data with PMO: EC

EC said PM is exempted from the provision that bars ministers from combining official visits with campaigning.

PM Narendra Modi file photo.

(Photo: PTI)

The Election Commission has found no violation of the poll code in Niti Aayog sharing data with the prime minister's office on places where PM Narendra Modi was set to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, reported PTI.

On 1 May, Congress moved the EC against the alleged misuse of the Prime Minister's Office to collect information in advance about the places where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to campaign.

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said the commission has disposed off the complaint as the prime minister is exempted from the provision that bars ministers from combining official visits with campaigning.

"For prime minister relaxation was given that official and electioneering visit can be combined. So in that regard if (for) the same official visit if any information is called it is not a violation. It was a sort of standing order not a one time instruction,” Saxena said as per IANS.

The exemption to the prime minister was given in October 2014. "It was not a one time exemption but a standing instruction," Saxena told reporters.

Sources later told PTI, the Niti Aayog had not shared any political data but district-level data with the prime minister's office (PMO).

The EC had written to Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on 4 May flagging the allegations made by the Congress and the AAP.

Asking Kant to furnish the reply "immediately," the EC had referred to the allegations that the Niti Aayog has asked officers in various states and Union territories to provide to the PMO write ups about destinations of the prime minister's campaign.

The EC also responded to a question on the Congress's fresh complaint against information allegedly sought by an officer of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade from the Commerce Ministry on Start Up India, claiming that it was meant to be used for BJP's manifesto.

Saxena said it had been brought to the attention of of the panel that some "email had been sent to officials to give some information for a particular purpose. A report has been called for and we are awaiting a report from the ministry."

(With PTI and IANS inputs)