The Election Commission has issued notices to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ramcharan Bohra and Congress leader Sunil Sharma for using pictures of defence personnel in their election campaign in Jaipur, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. The notice, sent by the Jaipur district electoral office, sought a response in three days, along with details of expenditure incurred on the offending campaign material.
On March 9, the Election Commission instructed political parties to keep the country’s defence personnel out of election campaigning and not to use their photographs in advertisements.
In its letter to the two leaders, the Jaipur office said they had violated the Model Code of Conduct and also asked them to not indulge in such campaigning again.
According to India Today, a poster allegedly put up by Bohra had the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that of an Army jawan, with the sentence, “Aatankvadiyon ko Pakistan mein ghus kar mara [We entered Pakistan and killed the terrorists].”
On Tuesday, the Election Commission had directed Facebook to delete two posts shared by a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA with Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s image. The posts, which were election posters, were shared by Delhi MLA Om Prakash Sharma.
The Model Code of Conduct had come into effect when the Election Commission announced the dates of the Lok Sabha elections on March 10. The election will be held from April 11 to May 19 in seven phases, and the results will be declared on May 23.
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