BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar (L) and Venkaiah Naidu at a press conference in New Delhi
The BJP's Venkaiah Naidu today held up a controversial picture of Congress number 2
Rahul Gandhi inside a polling booth in Amethi and asked why no action has been taken against him. Clearly, he said, "the King can do no wrong."
"The Election Commission registered an FIR against
Narendra Modi for displaying the lotus. It registered an FIR against
Chandrababu Naidu for saying he had voted for the lotus, but no FIR against the Congress leader?" Mr Naidu asked.
In the photograph, tweeted yesterday by the Aam Aadmi Party as Mr Gandhi's constituency Amethi voted, and reproduced in newspapers this morning, the Congress leader is standing behind the enclosure that ensures a secret ballot and seems to be looking down at the Electronic Voting Machine.
(AAP Complains About Rahul Gandhi in Polling Booth as Amethi Votes)Mr Naidu alleged that Mr Gandhi, as a candidate in Amethi, was not allowed to do that according to election rules. He also asked, "Why the double standards? Is it because it happened in UP, a friendly government?"
(Also read: FAQs on Who Can Be Inside a Polling Booth and Who Can't)Uttar Pradesh or UP, where Amethi is, is ruled by the Samajwadi Party, which provided external support to the ruling Congress at the Centre in the outgoing Lok Sabha.
The Election Commission said yesterday that "going to the EVM is not allowed."
(Read more...)Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi also said that the panel was "yet to see this... it's a speculative situation. Rules are very clear. We will wait for reports."
The picture and others that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP tweeted to protest against Mr Gandhi's visits to polling booths in his constituency while polling was on, provoked a huge debate on social media.
Amethi, Mr Gandhi's Lok Sabha seat and considered a bastion of his family, voted yesterday in the eighth phase of polling for the general elections. For the first time, Mr Gandhi faces a tough contest with the BJP fielding a popular actor
Smriti Irani and the AAP one of its seniormost leaders, Kumar Vishwas.
(Elections: full coverage)