Complaints pile up with EC, 32 FIRs registered

Even before the political parties announce their nominees for the 182 assembly seats in the poll-bound state, the Election Commission (EC) has received 685 complaints with regard to violations of model code of conduct. The EC has filed 32 FIRs with the local police across the state after evaluating the complaints.

These 685 complaints have been filed by political parties and individuals with the EC till Wednesday. According to Gujarat chief electoral officer Anit Karwal, out of the 685 complaints or representations received, 658 have been resolved, while 27 complaints have been referred to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for further decision.

 

She further said that as many as 32 FIRs have been registered in connections with the complaints received and further investigation was on it that regard.

"As many as 53 complaints have been received by the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer against violation of model code of conduct in Gujarat. Twenty-seven were filed by the BJP, out of which 15 have been resolved, while 12 have been forwarded to the Central Election Commission for further decision," said Karwal.

"The Congress party had filed 16 complaints on the same issue, out of which 10 have been resolved, while six have been referred to the Central Election Commission for further decision. Other parties had filed 10 complaints of which seven have been resolved and remaining have been sent to Central Election Commission for further orders," she added.

Districts with high rate of complaints include Rajkot with 68, Vadodara (65), Surat (63), Amreli (50), Panchmahal (39) and Banaskantha (48).

Highest number of FIRs, eight, have been filed in Mehsana district, followed by Banaskantha and Surat (four each), and three each in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Junagadh. Two FIRs each have been registered in Kutch, Vadodara, Narmada, and one in Jamnagar.