Assembly elections: EC seeks response from JP Nadda, Mallikarjun Kharge after Congress, BJP file complaints against each other
ET Online November 16, 2024 10:20 PM
Synopsis

The Election Commission of India is investigating complaints from the BJP and Congress about alleged campaign violations during assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The BJP accused Muslim organizations of urging votes for the INDIA bloc based on religion, while the Congress complained about strategically placed political ads within Marathi television serials.

BJP president JP Nadda
The Election Commission of India on Saturday has sent separate letters to BJP President JP Nadda and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, asked each one to comment on the complaint of the other. The Commission exchanged the complaints between the two parties while seeking their formal responses by 1 pm on Monday.

The ECI reminded the party leaders of an earlier advisory to them dated May 22, 2024 during Lok Sabha Elections, which asked them to keep a check on star campaigners and leaders so that public decorum is not flouted and MCC is followed in letter and spirit during election campaign.


This comes after the BJP and Congress complained against each other to EC in the ongoing assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.


Congress complaint with EC

The Congress has complained to the Election Commission of India of ads being placed strategically within Marathi language television serials to promote the Mahayuti campaign. One Marathi television channel has been running the ads since yesterday which show a hoarding of the Shiv sena campaign slogan after a particular scene in the serial. General secretary of the Maharashtra Congress Sachin Sawant complained to the State Election Commission about the placement of the ads.

Sawant has approached the State Election Commission officials to take action against those involved.


According to the Congress leader the ads began airing from yesterday and ran till today and he has got complaints of similar ads being run on serials on another Marathi entertainment channel.

BJP complaint with the EC

The BJP alleged that some Muslim bodies are trying to vitiate the poll atmosphere in Maharashtra and Jharkhand by appealing to their community members to vote for the INDIA bloc on the lines of religion, and urged the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to take action in the matter.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said All India Muslim Personal Law Board's functionary Maulana Sajjad Nomani has said that the outfit has decided to support Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on 269 seats and other non-BJP parties on a few seats in Maharashtra Assembly polls.

He said that Nomani has appealed to the Muslims to vote for the MVA, saying the outcome of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections will have an impact not only on the future of the state but also on the future of the entire country.

Earlier the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind's Lohardaga unit appealed to the Muslims to vote en bloc for the Congress-JMM-RJD-CPI (ML) Liberation combine in Jharkhand, Bhatia claimed.

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