Gujarat poll panel gets 57 complaints for breach of code of conduct

Gandhinagar: Fifty-seven complaints about breach of Model Code of Conduct have been lodged with the election commission in Gujarat, of which 35 have been disposed of, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anita Karwal said here today. “We have got 57 complaints for breach of Model Code of Conduct and 35 of them have been disposed of as on March 18,” CEO Anita Karwal said. [caption id=“attachment_1441541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] “The Election Commission has been receiving complaints since March 4, the date when Lok Sabha polls were declared,” Karwal said. “Four complaints have been sent to the Election Commission of India for further guidance on whether to take action or not,” she said. “FIRs have been lodged in two cases in Kutch district, besides one each in Rajkot and Mehsana district, out of those 57 complaints before the Election Commission,” she said. “Complaints include three cases against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for non-payment of road toll and for his alleged unparliamentray utterances against some of BJP functionaries,” she said. “A complaint was lodged before the EC about Kejriwal’s remarks calling Gujarat minister Saurabh Patel as Reliance’s son-in-law,” BJP spokesperson Harshad Patel said. During his “reality check” tour to Gujarat, Kejriwal had accused the Modi government of favouring industrialist Mukesh Ambani, as one of his ministers is supposed to be related to him. Giving party-wise information, Karwal said that the “BJP had filed three complaints and one of them has been disposed of, while two have been sent to the Election Commission of India”. “The Congress has lodged 15 complaints. While eight of them have been disposed of, seven are still pending,” she said. PTI