Congress Moves Poll Body Against Alleged Misuse Of PMO For Campaigning

The Congress has moved the Election Commission against alleged misuse of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to collect information in advance about places where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to campaign.

The opposition also asked the poll watchdog to issue directives against the holding of a rally by Prime Minister Modi in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh on May 6.

The Congress claimed that the rally in Sagar could influence polling in adjoining Damoh parliamentary seat.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, speaking outside the EC, said the party made two representations to the poll watchdog, including one on the alleged misuse of government machinery for campaigning.

The PMO is "misusing" the NITI Aayog and asking it to write letters to the district administration of those places where the prime minister is scheduled to campaign in the next few days, he claimed.

In the letter, details of places such as its cultural significance have been sought, Mr Singhvi alleged, adding that local administrations have been asked to send the details within a day.

The prime minister is like any other campaigner and the state machinery cannot be misused for campaigning, he added.

The Congress leader said 40 years ago former prime minister Indira Gandhi got debarred on a similar charge.

"We have asked the EC to put an immediate stop to this," he said.

In the second representation, the Congress said on May 6, the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Damoh parliamentary constituency will be going to polls and an election rally is being organised by Prime Minister Modi in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh.

"The peculiar problem in this case is that three tehsils and assembly constituencies of Sagar district-- Banda, Rehli and Deori -- form part of the Damoh parliamentary constituency," according to the representation.

The Congress asserted that the rally would influence the election in Damoh in more than one way and sought that the BJP not be permitted to conduct the rally in Sagar.