Telangana polls: Congress urges EC to act against Amit Shah for allegedly violating model code

The Congress on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to take action against Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah for allegedly violating the model code of conduct in poll-bound Telangana by trying to create a communal environment in the state. The state goes to the polls on December 7, and the results will be out on December 11.

Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal raised several matters at a meeting with officials from the poll panel on Tuesday, according to PTI. “Shah’s statement in Telangana was absolutely false and misrepresented some points of the Congress’s poll manifesto,” Sibal said after the meeting.

“The statement of the BJP chief was aimed at creating a communal atmosphere,” he said, adding that the party has urged the poll panel to issue a notice to Shah.

On December 2, at a campaign rally in Ranga Reddy district, Shah claimed that the Congress has in its manifesto promised free electricity to mosques and churches but not temples. This, he claimed, was the party’s attempt to appease the minorities for votes. Several people on social media and news reports, however, soon pointed out that the Congress had promised free electricity to all places of worship.

Sibal said the Congress leaders also raised the arrest of the party’s working president A Revanth Reddy with the poll panel. The legislator was arrested from his home in Kodangal in Vikarabad district early on Tuesday ahead of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s election rally in the area.

“He [Reddy] was arrested at 3 am and was not told why was he arrested. We requested [the EC officials] that such arrests should not be made during the time of elections,” Sibal said.

The party leaders also spoke to the officials about several complaints regarding alleged malfunctioning of electronic voting machines in Madhya Pradesh.