Poll season heats up: BJP, Cong knock on EC door

With political acrimony deepening in the run up to state elections, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress knocked on the Election Commission’s doors for perceived wrongs by the other party.

With political acrimony deepening in the run up to state elections, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress knocked on the Election Commission’s doors for perceived wrongs by the other party.

At a rally in Hisar, PM Modi urged EC to take action over the Haryana government’s alleged nod to a controversial land deal involving Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. “Despite the model code being imposed for the state elections, chief minister Bhupinder Hooda cleared a land deal for the damaad (Robert Vadra). The EC should take serious note of this,” he said.

Senior Haryana bureaucrat Ashok Khemka cancelled the Rs 58-crore land deal between Vadra's company and real estate major DLF in October 2012. However, the order was termed invalid by the state government which, reportedly, authorised the transaction this year.

Meanwhile, Congress cried foul about Modi’s address on All India Radio, and went to the EC, accusing him of ‘misusing state machinery’ and ‘abusing authority’. In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath, AICC legal department secretary KC Mittal said the programme was broadcast after the model code of conduct for the upcoming Assembly polls had already come into force.

Commenting on the matter, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said, "If the prime minister violates the model code, (then) who will follow it?” The Congress also objected to the RSS chief’s speech being telecast live on DD, as RSS ‘seeks votes for BJP during elections.”