Smriti Irani, Priyanka's PRO spar over being present in Amethi booth

Amethi: BJP candidate Smriti Irani and Public Relations Officer of Priyanka Gandhi, Preeti Sahay, entered in a verbal duel today as the former objected to her presence at one of the booths in Jagdishpur area here. Following the incident, BJP complained to the Election Commission on the presence of Sahay at a polling booth in Thori village in Jagdishpur area here alleging that she was trying to influence the voters. “When Smriti Irani reached booth number 210 and 211 at Thori village in Jagdishpur village, she saw PRO of Priyanka Gandhi Preeti Sahay at the booth. Irani asked her for the pass which she could not produce. Sahay being an outsider should not have entered the booth,” Ashok Patel, PRO of Irani told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_1512747” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Smriti Irani. AFP.[/caption] District Electoral Officer Jagat Raj Tripathi told PTI that on the complaint of Irani, Sahay was taken out of the booth by the police. “We have received a complaint from Irani. Prima facie we found that both the persons were wrong in their own places. While Sahay should not have been inside the booth, Irani also misbehaved inside the booth,” Tripathi said. Irani alleged that ‘desperate Congress’ had violated many polling laws. Sahay had been asked to leave Amethi, but Irani said Rahul’s media managers should also not have been allowed in booths. She said thus behaviour proved he was indeed a ‘shehzada’ as Modi calls him, not a believer in loktantra. Irani also alleged that Congress had been giving out money. “If there is so much love for him why are they giving out money? Love can never be bought for money,” said Irani. Asked what she thought of her prospects, she said the janta janardhan had already raised har har Modi slogans in front of Rahul. Anoter complaint was made by BJP from Gunnaur village in Musafirkhana area where it alleged that some youths carrying Rs 1 lakh were distributing the money among voters. “Both the boys have been detained. We have not recovered any cash from them but questioning is going on,” Superintendent of Police Hira Lal said. Polling is going on at 1246 booths at this prestigious constituency which is seeing a contest between Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, TV actress-turned-politician Irani who is contesting on BJP ticket and Aam Admi Party’s Kumar Vishwas. Later, Congress spokesperson Tehseen Poonawalla put out a series of tweets defending Sahay’s actions and accusing BJP of trying to create a controversy out of nothing. Following are a few of his tweets: 

With inputs from PTI