PANAJI
The Congress has formally complained to the Election Commission of India through the office of Chief Electoral Officer, Ramesh Verma, IAS, that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is distributing booklets published by the Director of Information and Publicity with public funds during their campaigning for the May 7 elections.
A complaint was formally handed over to Verma by Congress vice-president, Sunil Khawtankar and general secretary Savio D'Souza.
The complaint said, the BJP is distributing booklets during its election campaign, which are printed by the government using taxpayers' money. Khawtankar has said, it is utter abuse of power and taxpayers' money by the BJP for campaigning and thus a serious offence.
“All this expense should be reflected in the expenditure of BJP candidates. They are misusing state exchequer and printing booklets to distribute to voters,” Khawtankar later told the media after formally handing over the complaint, adding that it is a clear case of violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
“It is shocking that the Election Commission which has got Officers all over the place, has not noticed this blatant abuse committed by the ruling party members during campaigning,” Khawtankar said.
He has urged the CEO to immediately stop this illegal distribution of the DI-published booklets and verify the source of these booklets.
The expenditure incurred on printing should be added to that of the North Goa Candidate of the BJP and the Director of Information & Publicity should also be booked for being hand in glove with BJP workers to supply these booklets, he added.
