Congress workers protest outside EC office, detained

Several Congress workers were detained on Thursday while protesting against the Election Commission (EC) for issuing a notice to the party's President-elect Rahul Gandhi over his TV interview a day ahead of the second phase of the Gujarat polls and no action being taken against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for holding what they called a "roadshow" after casting his vote.

The party also submitted a fresh memorandum to the Commission on Thursday demanding action against Modi for the Ahmedabad roadshow.

In its memorandum, the party called upon the EC to follow the dharma of the Constitution, implement the law and register an FIR against the Prime Minister, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, Ministers Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal and others.

Party workers staging a protest march were stopped by the police outside Sardar Patel Bhavan near Patel Chowk.

"EC is a constitutional institution. It is not dependant on anyone. Democracy and electoral process are being murdered. This is surprising. We gave them prima facie evidence -- a video of Modiji's roadshow. Why was there no notice against him," said Congress leader and Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev.

"Notice has been issued against us, We are not sad about it. But why notice has not been issued against them (BJP)?" said Dev.

"When Modiji was appealing to the people on December 8 to vote for BJP on December 9, was not that violation of model code of conduct? Why notice is not being issued to them?" Dev added.

She further said: "BJP is in power, they can go anywhere. We are in opposition, so the police has stopped us. This is what is happening in the country. They are misusing power in front of the EC."

The party's memorandum stated that the entire nation's conscience was deeply hurt by the denigration of every constitutional norm, law and code of conduct when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the roadshow with BJP flags after casting his vote.

"Tragically, naked prejudice of Election Commission and failure to act against the Prime Minister and BJP leaders is writ large," it added.

The memorandum also said: "Congress holds the institution of EC in high esteem. You are final arbiter for upholding the neutrality of the election."

"If EC becomes subservient and captive to the whims and fancies of the Prime Minister and the ruling party, the entire independence of the election process would come under a cloud."

--IANS

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