The Congress on Monday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission over poll code violation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the armed forces for political propaganda despite being warned by the poll watchdog. Pointing out two instances on April 25 and 26, where PM Modi invoked the armed forces during campaigning, Congress accused the EC of adopting a hands-off policy regarding violations by the PM and BJP chief Amit Shah. "We are compelled to bring to the attention of the Election Commission yet another instance of the Prime Minister's brazen violations of the electoral laws governing and prohibiting the use of defence personnel for malicious propaganda/campaign purposes," the Congress letter to EC stated. Besides listing several instances where Modi referred to the armed forces during his rallies, Congress pointed two specific remarks by the PM at a rally in Varanasi and another which he made during an interview with Aaj Tak. "On April 25, PM said, 'they martyred 40 of our brave soldiers in Pulwama. Following this, we have killed 42 of the terrorists in that region. This is the way we work'," the letter mentioned. On April 26, during an interview on Aaj Tak, PM Modi made another reference to Pulwama attack. "When I went there and killed the terrorists then they (Pakistan) could neither confirm nor deny the same," PM Modi had said. The objective was to seek votes once again invoking the valour of the armed forces, Congress alleged. On March 19, the poll panel had written to all political parties asking them to advise their leaders and candidates to “desist” from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces as part of their campaign. "As we have seen over the last month and a half, and with almost four phases having been concluded, non-intervention leads to an escalation in the illegal activities of these two individuals who take the ECI's silence as a tacit stamp of approval or endorsement," the letter said. Congress further said the entire campaign of the BJP had been built on the twin pillars of "religious invective" and "co-opting the achievements of the armed forces". "Such habitual violations by the PM make it evident that he is not just making a mockery of this EC but also the armed forces for his petty political gains," Congress stated.
