CM Rawat buying votes to influence bypoll outcome, claims Congress

Opposition Congress today lodged a complaint with the EC against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and other ministers accusing them of distributing cash among the voters of the Tharali constituency to influence the results of the upcoming bypoll.

Pradesh Congress vice president Suryakant Dhasmana led a party delegation to the office of Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya here and handed her a memorandum addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner wherein Rawat was accused of carrying cash in his helicopter to distribute it among voters in the constituency.

Terming it an open violation of the model code of conduct and misuse of government machinery to influence the electorate, the memorandum said choppers used by the chief minister to reach the constituency must be examined.

His predecessor and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat underwent a similar procedure ahead of the Assembly polls last year.

The Congress and the BJP were engaged in a bitter war of words during last year's Assembly polls in the state after the former Uttarakhand chief minister's chopper was inspected by an Election Commission team in Haldwani on two different occasions.

Bypoll to the constituency, which fell vacant after the sudden demise of BJP MLA Magan Lal Shah earlier this year, is slated for May 28.