Pictures of armed forces chiefs
on BJP banners kick off a storm
The Congress today charged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with committing a serious "electoral offence" by using banners that had pictures of the three chiefs of the armed forces at an election meeting at Karnal, Haryana.
The Communist Party of India and the CPI (Marxist) have also written to the Election Commission objecting to the "political exploitation of the defence forces".
The Congress today said it would take up the issue with the Election Commission, seeking effective directions to prevent such violations "at least at the level of the prime minister", party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi.
The stage at the Karnal meeting addressed by Vajpayee had in the backdrop a banner depicting the national flag, a Prithvi missile, air force planes, and the three service chiefs.
"This constitutes not only misappropriation of the grossest political kind, but also an electoral offence," Sibal maintained.
Having fought several elections, Vajpayee was bound to be aware that such misuse of the armed forces was not only violative of the Model Code of Conduct, but also a serious electoral offence.
Producing photos published in newspapers, Sibal also took strong exception to Vajpayee sitting on a chair which had a carving of the Ashok Chakra at a function to release the electoral manifesto of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
The Congress spokesman said such instances showed that the BJP had scant respect for the Election Commission and other democratic institutions.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Manohar Singh Gill, CPI national secretary D Raja said his party had taken exception to the brazen violation of the Model Code of Conduct by the BJP.
The CPI-M has urged President K R Narayanan to intervene and ensure that such violations of the code are not allowed and action is taken against offenders.
UNI
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