The Election Commission of India met with a group of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders on Wednesday, 3 March. over the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph on advertisements of Centre’s schemes and COVID vaccination certificates, ahead of the upcoming polls.
The TMC leaders alleged that this move of using PM Modi’s photographs by the Union Health Ministry violated the elections’ model code of conduct. They termed it as "blatant misuse of official machinery", and called for intervention to remove hoardings with the PM’s face, reported PTI.
West Bengal state minister Firhad Hakim sought EC’s intervention a day after Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien alleged that PM Modi’s photographs were being used on COVID-19 certificates in spite of election dates being announced.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi happens to be the star campaigner of the BJP in this Assembly elections. As a politician, he is seeking support for his party during rallies. In this situation, using his photo in vaccination certificates is akin to influencing voters and violates the model code of conduct,”Hakim said to PTI.
Hakim further added that the TMC delegation has asked for intervention to remove hoardings with PM Modi at petrol pumps.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has responded to these allegations as “baseless”, adding that these were done prior to the announcement of the election dates and are put up on private land. He reiterated that the EC will take a call on the issue, added the report.
The West Bengal Assembly election will be held from 27 March to 29 April in eight phases, following which the results will be declared on 2 May. This makes it the longest ever polling in the state so far, seemingly based on “assessments of law and order” by the EC.
(With inputs from PTI)
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