Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Thursday filed a complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaigns ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and said that the saffron party's advertisements hurt everyone who was connected to the Indian democracy.
He said, “We have conveyed our complaints to the Election Commission of India about the way the BJP is campaigning, the things that are being advertised by them and the things that are being said through this hurts everyone who is connected to Indian democracy.”
Congress leaders Khurshid, Mukul Wasnik, Supriya Shrinate and others met with the Election Commissioners at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Thursday.
Khurshid added that the Congress party raised objections over BJP advertisements involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture as a part of the Lok Sabha campaigning.
{{/usCountry}}Khurshid added that the Congress party raised objections over BJP advertisements involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture as a part of the Lok Sabha campaigning.
{{/usCountry}}“We have raised objections over advertisements on trains, petrol pumps, bus stands, etc. with PM Modi's picture as part of their (BJP's) election campaigning. They (Election Commission) have already started taking action against many other such issues.”
The Congress party said that it requested the ECI to suggest steps for situations when “objectionable advertising” is disseminated and removed from platforms before it can be complained against, Khurshid said.
“I hope the ECI will work as per the constitutional rights that it has,” the Congress leader added.
In an unscheduled press briefing on Thursday morning, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge along with former chiefs Sonia and Rahul Gandhi criticised the Narendra Modi administration for allegedly undermining fair competition for opposition parties, including the Congress, in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha polls. The leaders highlighted two key grievances — the issue of electoral bonds and the freezing of the Congress party's accounts by the Income Tax department.
During a press conference on Thursday, Kharge highlighted the disproportionate benefit the BJP received from the discontinued electoral bonds scheme, receiving 56% of total donations compared to the Congress's 11%. Following him, Sonia Gandhi accused Prime Minister Modi of orchestrating deliberate financial setbacks for the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, taking up the mantle, accused PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of engaging in "criminal activity" against the Congress, despite the party garnering significant voter support in the 2019 polls. He emphasised that despite securing around 11 crore votes, party leaders now struggle to afford even platform tickets.