Poll body orders action against Mahayuti leaders
Poll body has asked Pune district collector and deputy election officers to act on a complaint filed by NCP (SCP) against Ajit Pawar, Mangesh Chavan and Chandrakant Patil for violation of model code of conduct
PUNE The state election commission has asked the Pune district collector and deputy election officers to act on a complaint filed by the Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) against Ajit Pawar, Mangesh Chavan and Chandrakant Patil for violation of the model code of conduct, and submit a report on the same. Accordingly, the Pune district collector and district election officer has initiated action and served notices to Ajit Pawar, Chavan and Patil.
Pune district collector and district election officer, Suhas Diwase, said that notices have been served to Ajit Pawar and the others, and replies have been sought. “The returning officer of Baramati has served notice to Ajit Pawar, seeking his reply within three days on the remarks. Action will be taken based on the reply and inquiry,” Diwase said.
Earlier this week on Wednesday, April 17, deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar made a controversial statement and told voters and leaders from Indapur that he would release maximum funds provided votes came through. Ajit Pawar was in Indapur for the programme organised by the members of the medical fraternity and traders as part of campaigning for his wife, Sunetra Pawar, who is locked in a tough battle with sitting member of parliament (MP) and NCP (SP) candidate, Supriya Sule, in the Baramati constituency.
According to NCP (SP) members, BJP MLA Mangesh Chavan of Chalisgaon, while campaigning for the Mahayuti candidate, Smita Wagh, contesting from the Jalgaon Lok Sabha (LS) seat, on April 16 said, “The vault is with us and the voter should vote for us and we won’t give less. The chief minister, Eknath Shinde, is of our faction who has control of the vault.”
Whereas BJP MLA Chandrakant Patil while campaigning for Sunetra Pawar in Purandar on April 11 allegedly said, “Don’t forget Ajit Pawar is the state finance minister. Being the minister, Ajit Pawar has the key of the vault and chief minister Shinde who is a Mahayuti leader has the vault. People should remember that the vault and key both belong to us and we will fulfil our commitments towards the voters.”
NCP (SP) in a statement tweeted on X said, “We had filed complaints with the Election Commission of India for the repeated violation of provision 7 of the model code of conduct and section 123 of the Representation of People’s Act by Ajit Pawar, Mangesh Chavan, and Chandrakant Patil. In blatant disregard of law and dearth of any vision, they have been repeatedly promising disbursement of state finances using their official positions in the event their candidate is elected. This is prima facie bribery and corrupt practice, shockingly being resorted to by those in power in the state of Maharashtra.”
Sharad Pawar, while taking a dig at Ajit Pawar, said, “Press the button in front of the tutari [symbol of the NCP (SP) faction] and yesterday, someone said how to press the button… and I don’t want to say this… That person also said ‘you will receive in abundance’. I don’t want to go into the details of it because give and take is not our role to ask for the votes. Our role is to work for the people, serve the people, give them the power, and then ask for votes.”
