Don't allow yoga camps if possibility of misuse, poll officials told

The Election Commission Friday asked district election officers not to grant permission for activites like yoga camps if there was possibility of their misuse for political campaigning.

In a letter to all chief electoral officers of states, the poll panel also said any violation should be brought to its notice.

"It has come to notice of the commission that in certain places while permission was sought by certain organisations to organise non-political activites like yoga shivirs etc. the platform was used for political campaigning in clear violation of the condition for which permission was granted," the poll panel said.

It said that the district election officers and returning officers should be told that antecedents of organisations seeking such permission should be verified.

"If there is a possibility of such misuse or such a permission has been misused by either the organiser or the participants or earlier occasions, the permission should not be given," the panel said.

The Congress had complained to the poll panel about alleged political message at a yoga camp held by Baba Ramdev in the national capital.