Stop leaders from using Army's reference for votes: Congress to EC

A Congress delegation met the Election Commission (EC) on Friday, requesting it to cut-short the campaign days of those leaders who violate the model code of conduct and EC rules by making references to the Armed Forces for the "sake of votes."

The delegation, comprising Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Randeep Singh Surjewala, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and other ministers have grossly violated the EC guidelines.

"We have requested the Election Commission that if a leader from any political party violates EC rules and MCC or particularly reference of Armed forces or Balakot Airstrike in the election campaign for sake of votes, then he should not be allowed to campaign for the whole day. However, if he repeats his mistake for the second time then he or she should not be allowed to campaign for two days and so on," Singhvi told reporters here.

"This never happened in the history of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and other ministers are openly flouting the norms and referring Balakot air strike and other incidences for wooing votes. We demand that it should be immediately stopped," he added.

Prime Minister Modi, while addressing a rally on April 9 in Maharashtra, urged first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the Air Force which carried out air strikes at Balakot. He also made a similar appeal during a public rally in Ahmednagar today.