A huge hoarding of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asking people to vote for it during the Lok Sabha polls,has been removed from a Jain Temple at in Surat. The 15 x 15 feet hoarding had the pictures of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and BJP candidate Darshna Jardosh. It was on display in the temple premises at Nanpura near Makkai Bridge for the last few days. According to sources,somebody personally went to the district collectors office and met the election officer and complained about the hoarding. After removing this hoarding,the Shah Publicity advertising agency has placed its own hoarding at the site. Sources said the hoarding containing the political message was displayed by the same agency on Saturday. The temple trustees failed to comment on the issue when contacted. Yashwant Shah,the owner of the ad agency said: We have received an order from the Surat Municipal Corporation to remove the banner depicting Darshna Jardosh and Narendra Modi from the temple. We did not know that it violated the model code of conduct. District Election Officer R J Valvi said: When some people informed me today about the hoarding,our officials rushed to the spot. We informed the deputy municipal commissioner of Surat about it and he asked the publicity agency to remove it. BJP General Secretary Ajay Choksi said the party had given a contract to the ad agency and they had taken permission from the Surat Municipal Corporation for fixing hoardings at various places. The agency people might have taken permission from the trustees of the temple before fixing the hoarding,he said.
