The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of holding a road show on the Election Day in Ahmedabad and the Election Commission of being a "puppet" for allegedly ignoring "violation of model poll code."
After casting his vote at booth number 115 in Sabarmati's Ranip locality, Modi, standing on door step of the car, addressed the cheering crowd with his inked finger. His car barreled through the crowd that was chanting his name.
Attacking the Prime Minister and the Election Commission, Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “The images on TV will leave no one in doubt that the BJP and PM have conducted a full fledged campaign on polling day. Shocking violation of Rules. EC is sleeping on the job.”
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“Allowing a roadshow of PM on voting day is a gross violation of code of conduct. It is an election campaign. What is the EC doing?,” Chidambaram tweeted.
Earlier, Ahmedabad police on Monday denied permission to Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi to hold road shows in the city citing law-and-order situations and the Election Commission’s guidelines. The next day, Modi took off in a sea-plane from the Sabarmati River here to Dharoi Dam in Mehsana district as it marked the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly polls.
Congress had also questioned the Election Commission after it served a show-cause notice to Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday for prima facie violating the model code by giving interviews to Gujarati TV channels.
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"Yesterday, PM made a speech. BJP's President gave an interview. Railway Minister gave an interview. Why have all these escaped the EC's attention? Why pick on only Mr Rahul Gandhi's interview?," Chidambaram had said.
After a high-voltage campaign, voting for the second and final phase of the Gujarat assembly elections is underway today in 93 seats in North and Central Gujarat.
The election is being seen as a "prestige battle" for Prime Minister Modi and a litmus test for the leadership of Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi.
The Bharatiya Janta Party, however, refuted all the allegations. Its general secretary in-charge for Gujarat, Bhupendra Yadav, said that the Congress Party always tries to pull strings and now that it is about to face a defeat, it is blaming the Election Commission (EC).
Speaking at a press conference, the BJP leader said, "During the last Rajya Sabha elections when the Election Commission gave the verdict, we accepted it. Congress then hailed the same EC for being impartial. Now that the Congress is about to face a terrible defeat, they are putting allegations of all kinds on the Election Commission. When Congress comes in power, it always tries to keep others as puppets. I would say, for whom grapes are sour, now they are blaming the constitutional bodies".
With Agency Input
