Cong Moves EC Against Alleged Misuse Of PMO For Pol Campaigns

Congress has asserted that PM Modi’s campaign in Sagar, MP on 6 May will affect the Damoh Lok Sabha seat as well.

Congress has moved the EC against the alleged misuse of PMO for PM Modi’s pol campaigns.

(Photo: AP)

On Wednesday, the Congress party moved the Election Commission against the alleged misuse of the Prime Minister's Office to collect information in advance about the places where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to campaign.

The opposition also asked the poll watchdog to issue directives against the holding of a rally by PM Modi in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh on 6 May.

The Congress has claimed that the rally in Sagar could influence polling in the adjoining Damoh parliamentary seat.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, speaking outside the EC, said that the party made two representations to the poll watchdog, one of which was the alleged misuse of government machinery for campaigning.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is "misusing" the NITI Aayog and asking it to write letters to the district administration of those places where the prime minister is scheduled to campaign in the next few days, he claimed.

Singhvi alleged that in the letter, details of places such as its cultural significance have been sought, and added that the local administrations have been asked to send the details within a day.

‘Pm Modi is like any other campaigner and the state machinery cannot be misused for campaigning.’

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior Congress leader.

The Congress leader also said that 40 years ago, even the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was also debarred on a similar charge.

"We have asked the EC to put an immediate stop to this," said Singhvi.

In the second representation, the Congress said that on 6 May, the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Damoh parliamentary constituency will be going to polls and an election rally is being organised by Prime Minister Modi in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh.

According to the representation, ‘The peculiar problem in this case is that three tehsils and assembly constituencies of Sagar district-- Banda, Rehli and Deori -- form part of the Damoh parliamentary constituency.’

The Congress asserted that the rally would influence the election in Damoh in more than one way and sought that the BJP not be permitted to conduct the rally in Sagar.