Congress leaders Salman Khurshid, Pawan Khera, and Gurdeep Sappal made five submissions before the Election Commission of India (ECI), party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and state elections. Congress urged that no welfare beneficiaries in the state of Andhra Pradesh should be denied their entitlements during the election period, a stance the poll panel appreciated, according to Ramesh.
Congress had earlier raised concerns over the continued display of state scheme advertisements featuring the photograph of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, which was in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Jairam Ramesh said the ECI ordered the immediate removal of all such posters and also requested the Congress party to notify the Commission of any remaining posters in the state.
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Moreover, the Congress sought clarification on the allocation and division of expenditure between candidates and the party for campaign materials.
Congress formally lodged a complaint against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its alleged malicious attempts to link the party’s campaign to George Soros, the controversial billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist.
“This complaint covers other examples of false propaganda that target the INC as well. Not only are these materials patently false, they are also mala fide and knowingly defamatory. The ECI was requested to take immediate action against the authors of this low-level campaign, as well as issue instructions for its recall,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
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The party lodged a complaint against the BJP’s alleged use of cropped and distorted videos to malign the Congress, Ramesh said, adding that they urged the poll panel to take immediate action against the authors of this “low level campaign.”
Last week, the Congress alleged that the Election Commission has not taken action on most of its complaints and urged the poll panel to ensure a level playing field during the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “The EC is yet to take action on most of our complaints and we urge the poll body to be impartial and ensure a level playing field during elections.”
Khurshid had said the party complained to the EC about the manner in which campaigning is being done by the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls.
“People are pained at the manner in which the BJP is issuing advertisements and posters. We have objected to the manner in which the government schemes are being promoted with the prime minister’s photograph and such a campaign during polls cannot take place. The EC has already taken note of such things and has assured us to take up our complaints,” Khurshid had said.
