Congress alleges Amit Shah violated MCC during roadshow

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Congress has complained to the Election Commission alleging that BJP president and Gandhinagar candidate Amit Shah violated the model code of conduct during his roadshow on March 30. The chief electoral officer (CEO) has directed the Ahmedabad district election officer to look into the complaint.


Gujarat CEO S Murali Krishna said, “I have directed the

DEO

to inquire into the model code violation complaint against the Gandhinagar BJP candidate. Right now we are gathering video evidence and we will will also visit the location to verify the report by the morning of April 3.”

The Congress says that there are three hospitals in the vicinity of the Sardar Patel statue in Naranpura with several patients admitted. “How can permission for blaring loudspeakers be given when there are hospitals in the vicinity,” Congress spokesman Manish Doshi asked in the complaint.

The Congress complaint also said that several platforms were erected on the road along the 4-km route of the roadshow from the Sardar Patel statue to Patidar Chowk in Ghatlodia and many roads had been blocked for traffic to enable the roadshow to pass, inconveniencing thousands of commuters.

“There was no notification from the commissioner that several roads along the route would be blocked for traffic. People facing inconvenience is a serious issue,” Doshi said.

“Amit Shah has been a former minister in the state and the administrative machinery has chosen to ignore the blatant violation of the code of conduct by him during the roadshow. We have asked the EC to lodge a complaint against him for this violation,” Doshi said.