First it was schoolbags now it’s hoardings; the Chhattisgarh government appears to be time and again rubbing the Election Commission the wrong way. Having asked for the removal of two Collectors yesterday, the EC today asked the state government not to transfer its free billboards to the Congress.In a strongly-worded letter to the state Chief Secretary, the EC ordered the state to dismantle the hoardings/billboards run by the ruling party as these were being used to harp about the party’s achievements and governance skills despite the Commission’s order banning such activities.With the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections in force, the government cannot put up the hoardings it had booked earlier to advertise its achievements and programmes run by it in the state.The EC has received complaints from the Opposition as well as from the Election Officers that the government has transferred the vacant hoardings booked in its name to the Congress.The party has since been using them to display party chief Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s portraits, their leadership qualities and achievements. ‘‘The hoardings booked by the state government cannot be transferred to the ruling party in a state that is going to election, since the ruling party is also not allowed to advertise its achievement in any manner that could unduly influence the voters,’’ EC sources said.Taking serious note of this latest breach of model code of conduct, the EC has sent copies of the communique to other states going to polls. After BJP, it was the turn of NCP to complain to the EC about the violation of model code of conduct by the state government. An NCP delegation comprising former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, V.C. Shukla and Jagannath Mishra met the Election Commission and alleged that four senior IAS and IPS officials were openly supporting the Chief Minister and the government to the extent of doubling as ‘‘party functionaries’’. However, they refused to reveal the names of the officials to the Commission.Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commission, J.M. Lyngdoh, has decided to visit Chhattisgarh on November 4. He is expected to personally look into the large number of complaints pouring in from the state.
