FIRs against Cong’s Wadettiwar, BJP’s Bawankule for poll code violations

A total of 54 complaints were received against various political parties, and decisions were taken on 24 after investigations. Of the 54 complaints, four resulted in FIRs in Baramati (a high-profile constituency which witnessed a Pawar versus Pawar battle) in connection with the distribution of cash

Mumbai: The state Election Commission (EC) has registered an FIR against Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar and Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule for alleged violations of model code of conduct amid the Lok Sabha polls, officials said on Friday.

The Congress had protested severely and the state chief spokesperson of Congress Atul Londhe had registered a complaint with the state chief electoral officer (HT)

The case against Wadettiwar, who is the leader of the opposition in the assembly, was based on a complaint from the BJP against his remark that then ATS chief Hemant Karkare was not killed by the bullet of terrorist Ajmal Kasab during the 26/11 attack but by one fired by a policeman close to the RSS. Wadettiwar had also called Ujjwal Nikam, the special prosecutor in the 26/11 trial and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North Central, ‘anti-national’ for hiding this “fact”.

Bawankule has been booked in Thane for BJP advertisements in newspapers claiming a victory for the opposition would lead to celebrations in a neighbouring country.

“A total of 54 complaints were received against various political parties, and decisions were taken on 24 after investigations. Of the 54 complaints, four resulted in FIRs in Baramati (a high-profile constituency which witnessed a Pawar versus Pawar battle) in connection with the distribution of cash,” Maharashtra chief electoral officer S Chockalingam said in a press conference.

The Congress had protested severely and the state chief spokesperson of Congress Atul Londhe had registered a complaint with the state chief electoral officer .

He also said several complaints regarding the distribution of money were received and some were sent to Mantralaya and diverted at field level. In some cases, the returning officer Kavita Dwivedi the district election officer and Pune collector Suhas Divase had taken suo motu action.

The additional chief electoral officer Kiran Kulkarni said most of the complaints in Baramati were done by NCP (SP). The NCP SP MLA Rohit Pawar had tweeted videos of money being distributed.

“We came to know complaints and video and our machinery and ECI was aware, all video action has been taken. We stopped the violation code and penal action. From what we know, four FIRs have been filed in Baramati,” Kulkarni said.

The EC has been conducting surprise checks at several levels and has confiscated cash of ₹59.29 crore, 58 lakh litres of liquor, drugs worth ₹244 crore and freebies worth ₹47 lakh meant for distribution to voters.

Meanwhile, a delegation of senior officers from the Election Commission flew down from Delhi to Mumbai to take stock of elections in MMR. They had called Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar for the meeting. They have told the authorities to ensure that the voting percentage is good in Mumbai on May 20.