After Rahul Gandhi’s chopper ‘not allowed to take off’ in Jharkhand, Congress writes to EC

In a memorandum to ECI, Congress MP and general secretary in charge for Communication Jairam Ramesh said: “You may be informed that Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament and Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) is presently in Jharkhand for an election rally of the Indian National Congress. Shri Rahul Gandhi and his staff had secured all the requisite permissions for travelling across the State and attending all the pre-scheduled election rallies.”

Ramesh said in the memorandum that as per “approved scheduled and permissions in place”, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and his team were to take off at 1.15 pm from Godda to fly to other locations across the state.

“However, their mode of travel, which was permitted to fly at 1.15pm, has not been allowed to take flight. They have been informed that due to the protocol of other leaders in the vicinity, a no-fly zone restriction had been put in place. In fact, due to the said delay all subsequent programmes of Shri Rahul Gandhi (for which prior permission had been secured) is now either being delayed or cancelled,” he said.

“If such a situation is allowed to prevail, then the ruling regime and its leaders can always take undue advantage of such protocols and limit the election campaign of opposition leaders,” the Congress general secretary added.

In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh said: “There should be a level-playing field in campaigning. The PM’s campaign cannot take precedence over that of all others. Today Rahul Gandhi got delayed in Jharkhand on this account.”

Rahul Gandhi is campaigning for the party’s candidates ahead of the second phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections on November 20. The first phase of voting was held on November 14 for 43 of 81 seats in Jharkhand Assembly. The votes will be counted on November 23.