The Congress party has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's schedule to meditate at Kanyakumari's Rock Memorial on Thursday. The meditation will coincide with the seventh phase and final phase of voting for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
A delegation of the Congress party met with the Election Commission of India and submitted 28 complaints over alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its top leaders including Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as per a Hindustan Times report.
The party said that Modi's meditation schedule is a direct violation of the MCC. “We have no problem if any leader keeps a fast of silence or campaigns but during the silence period, there should be no campaigning,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi after the meeting.
But Modi's meditation is direct violation of the MCC, Singhvi said, adding"...you are either campaigning this way or publicising yourself through new channels and print media.”
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The delegation proposed that Modi start his meditation on Saturday evening and that if he insists to begin it on Thursday evening, the poll panel should prohibit all media from reporting about it, said Singhvi.
“He is a candidate himself in the last phase. About 55 constituencies are going to polls in the last phase. Such publicity should not be allowed,” he added, reported HT.
Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, from where PM Modi will contest the polls is among the 57 seats that will undergo voting in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The voting will take place on June 1 across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chandigarh.