MoS Ajay Bhatt complains against Cong candidate for 'false ad' on MP fund

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Minister of State (Mos) for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, has complained to the Returning Officer of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district about the advertisement published in violation of the Model Code of Conduct against Congress candidate Prakash Joshi.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Bhat is contesting from the Nainital Lok Sabha seat in Uttarakhand.

In the complaint, Bhatt said that false statements have been made in the advertisements about his MP fund. He said that the advertisement published in various newspapers mentioned that he has spent only 40 per cent of his MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) fund and has returned the remaining amount.

"...you are informed that advertisements have been published in various newspapers by Congress candidate Shri Prakash Joshi in which, apart from other false statements, a completely false statement has been made that in the last five years, the current MP and BJP candidate has spent only 40 percent of his MP fund and the remaining amount has been returned," the MoS said in his complaint to the Returning Officer.

Rubbishing the claims from his rival candidate, the BJP candidate from Nainital said that proposals for full amount of MP Fund was sent and no amount from the MP fund has lapsed not sent back.

"The above statement is completely false, baseless and contrary to facts. The reality is that proposals for the full amount of MP Fund have been sent, many of which are under consideration and pending for approval in the concerned offices due to certain reasons. In this regard, it is also to be clarified that no part of the MP Fund has lapsed nor gone back," Bhatt said.

The BJP candidate said that the false statement published by the Congress candidate is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The BJP had won all the five seats in Uttarakhand in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Ajay Bhatt defeated former Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat from the Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar Lok Sabha seat in the last elections. Uttarakhand will vote in the first phase on elections on April 19.