BJP walking on dangerous path by 'using military forces to conceal its failures', says Congress leader Ahmed Patel

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was walking down a dangerous path by “using the military” to conceal its own “failures”, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said Sunday, asserting that the Election Commission’s (EC) circular preventing the use of armed forces in election campaign was much needed. [caption id=“attachment_4374331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ahmed Patel. PTI[/caption] The EC on Saturday asked political parties to “desist from displaying photographs of defence personnel” against the backdrop of a picture showing a hoarding with images of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman as well as leaders of the BJP. “The EC’s circular on preventing the use of of armed forces in election campaign was much needed. This needs to be implemented in letter and spirit. Let’s keep security forces out of politics,” Patel tweeted. “By using the military to conceal its own failures the BJP is walking down a dangerous path,” he said. In a fresh instruction issued to all political parties, the EC referred to its December, 2013 letter in which it had “called upon all political parties to advise their candidates and leaders to desist from displaying photographs of defence personnel or photographs of functions involving defence personnel in advertisements”.