NEW DELHI: It was a black Sunday for politicians who were formally slapped with notices from Election Commission (EC) for alleged violation of model code of conduct. The EC asked Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh to reply to the notices by 5 p.m. (IST) today. “We have got the CD (on the alleged distribution of cash by Singh) and also papers related to Home Minister Chidambaram on the Indian Premier League (IPL). The full commission will consider them on Monday,” deputy election commissioner J.P. Prakash told the media.
The flurry with which EC has issued notices is linked with the alacrity with which rival parties are filing charges against each other through the commission. Chidambaram is in trouble for allegedly offering poll sops during a visit last month to Rajasthan for a meeting. The BJP has alleged that Chidambaram had taken up certain electoral issues during this visit. The BJP has also claimed that during this visit, the home minister and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (of Congress) talked about granting citizenship to displaced Hindus from Pakistan and additional facilities for passengers traveling by “Thar Express.”
The Rajasthan unit of Congress has blamed BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Kailash Meghwal of violating the model code by distributing money among people in Gagaria village in Barmer district from where Singh’s son Manvendra is contesting Lok Sabha polls. The two have been accused of giving Rs.10,000 to a woman and also distributing food packets. Singh justified these moves by saying that it was his duty to help the poor. He claimed that he had not violated the model code.
Demanding probe into alleged distribution of cash by BJP leaders, Congress spokesman Ashwini Kumar earlier said: “Vote for note has become trademark of BJP. The Election Commission must get to the bottom of it, so that BJP can come clean on it.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was also recently given a notice on his party workers distributing money on Holi (a Hindu festival) at his native place. Yadav, however, claimed that it was a tradition to give away money during festivities. Besides, he was issued a strong advisory over making unsavory remarks targeting Mainpuri District Magistrate Ministhy Dileep.
Yadav made the controversial remarks reportedly when his party workers had claimed that Ministhy had canceled licenses of arms dealers and confiscated licensed arms of SP supporters.
Expressing dissatisfaction with Yadav’s reply to its notice, the poll panel said in a statement yesterday: “The Election Commission conveys its strong disapproval of the manner in which Mulayam Singh Yadav made his speech at Mainpuri on March 23 and advises him to be more cautious in future.”
