'Not removing ads': Congress meets poll body against BJP's poll violations

New Delhi: Congress complained before the election commission that BJP in Karnataka is not complying with the elections rules, listing out the rule violations, NDTV reported.

A delegation of Congress leaders, including Salman Khurshid and Pratap Bajwa, met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and informed BJP not clearing advertisement boards in Karnataka. Here the ruling party also issued tenders worth Rs 1,600 core just 48 hours before the election code came into force, Congress alleged.

Further, the team told the CEC that there are officers in the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer's team who have been working there for six years, while the Election Commission's guideline mandates that officers should be rotated every three years to prevent bias.

Congress was not allowed by the Election Commission to run certain advertisements in Karnataka, which the party alleged was an unfair move. It further alleged that the BJP has run "smear campaigns" against it without any restraint in the state.

Also, it alleged that the BJP government in Karnataka had issued tenders just before the poll code came into force, which was a deliberate attempt to influence the poll outcome there.

In the case of Punjab, the party delegation has allegations against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. It said that the AAP government transferred

many bureaucrats who were loyal to the Kejriwal party. Also, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's photos were used in "Aam Aadmi Clinics", which according to Congress a violation of the model code of conduct.