Days before bypoll was announced, Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Ministry okayed Rs 1.5 crore for event in constituency he vacated

It was a week before the Model Code of Conduct came into effect as the EC, on October 15,  announced that the Budhni bypoll will be held on November 13 and vote count on November 23.

To make arrangements for the event, it is learnt, on October 1 the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zila Panchayat Sehore wrote to Principal Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, requesting him to make available Rs 1.59 crore in Zila Panchayat’s bank account.

“In this program, about 20,000 people will participate. An amount of Rs 10 lakh will be required to make arrangements of food for these people, Rs 65 lakh (GST extra) for tents, Rs 84 lakh for 500 buses,” the CEO wrote.

The same day, MP officials forwarded the Sehore CEO’s request to the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). The approval came within days.

On October 5, an MoRD official wrote back to the state’s Principal Secretary, Rural Development: “In this regard, I am to convey that it has been decided with the approval of the ‘Competent Authority’ that the expenditure amounting to Rs 1.59 crore would be met from the Admn funds of the schemes of PMAY-G and NRLM on 50-50 basis available with the state government.”

An email seeking comments from MoRD did not elicit a response. When contacted, Sehore Zila Panchayat CEO Nitin Kumar Tale said he could not speak about the event without seeing the relevant papers.

Deepali Rastogi, Principal Secretary in Panchayat & Rural Development Department, MP, said, “Such programmes are allowed under the administration and IEC (information, education and communication) components of the schemes,” she said.

The Bhairunda event saw musical performances, speeches and launch of government initiatives like Awas Sakhi Mobile App.