TAKING COGNIZANCE of Governor TV Rajeswar objection, the State Election Commission today asked the State Government to suspend Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s programmes for distribution of unemployment allowance and Kanya Vidya Dhan in various divisions from October 20 to November 3.
State election commissioner Aparamita Prasad Singh said he had passed necessary orders that had been communicated to the Chief Minister’s Office.
The SEC has, however, allowed the CM to go ahead with the distribution programme at Basti and Jhansi on October 19 and November 4 respectively. An official press release said Yadav would distribute the cheques under the two plans in Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Basti at Government Polytechnic Hathiagarh on October 19. The SEC’s orders may, however, have a direct impact on his programme at Allahabad on October 27.
There are indications that the State Government is contemplating a move to urge the SEC to reconsider the decision. A senior officer of CMO, however, said the State Government had received the SEC orders. A request urging the SEC to reconsider the decision was yet to be made, he said.
Significantly, the SEC had earlier allowed Yadav to hold the programmes to distribute cheques in rural areas as the model code of conduct was in force in urban areas in the wake of ongoing local bodies elections. In a letter to the SEC, the Raj Bhawan had asked the SEC to ban the CM’s programmes. The Governor had discussed the issue with the SEC on October 11. Various political parties had stated that the programmes should not be allowed in rural areas as youths from urban areas were also among the beneficiaries. The governor had told the SEC that the code of conduct should be enforced in such a manner that no political party had any objections.
{{/usCountry}}Significantly, the SEC had earlier allowed Yadav to hold the programmes to distribute cheques in rural areas as the model code of conduct was in force in urban areas in the wake of ongoing local bodies elections. In a letter to the SEC, the Raj Bhawan had asked the SEC to ban the CM’s programmes. The Governor had discussed the issue with the SEC on October 11. Various political parties had stated that the programmes should not be allowed in rural areas as youths from urban areas were also among the beneficiaries. The governor had told the SEC that the code of conduct should be enforced in such a manner that no political party had any objections.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, UPCC spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh in a letter to the governor has said that the Yadav government was continuously violating the model of conduct and the SEC had failed to enforce its own code of conduct.
Singh said the Chief Minister had distributed unemployment allowance and the kanya vidya dhan at Gorakhpur, Meerut, Moradabad and Faizabad in violation of the code of conduct. Singh quoted section 7 and its sub sections to urge the Governor to take an appropriate decision to ensure that local body polls were held in a free and fair manner.