The Congress will approach the Supreme Court against the order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to revoke the 'star campaigner' status of Madhya Pradesh ex-chief minister and MP Congress chief Kamal Nath.
Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha tweeted to confirm the step decided by the Congress after the ECI order came on Friday afternoon. “Order of ECI removing Kamal Nath ji from the list of star campaigners two days before the campaign closure on Nov 1 is completely undemocratic. (The order was) given without notice to Kamal Nath andCongress party. We are approaching the Supreme Court to intervene and save democracy,” Tankha tweeted.
The ECI revoked the 'star campaigner' status of Kamal Nath on Friday 'for repeated violations of the model code while campaigning for the bypolls in 28 assembly constituencies in MP'.
Meanwhile, Kamal Nath himself called the action of ECI as an attempt to muzzle his and Congress's voice. “The people will decide now. This is an attempt to stop, suppress my voice. (An attempt) to muzzle the voice of Congress. Truth can be troubled but not defeated. People will support the truth,” Nath tweeted.
Also, the Congress decided to convert the proposed public meetings of Kamal Nath in Agar Malwa and Dewas on Saturday (October 31) into workers meet and discussion session with office bearers at booth and mandalam (sector) levels. The two public meetings of Kamal Nath scheduled for November 1 are likely to be similarly converted.
The ECI order has said that no permission will be granted by authorities to Kamal Nath as a star campaigner. "However, if any campaign is done by Kamal Nath from now onwards, the entire expenditure related to travel, stay and visit will be completely borne by the candidate in whose constituency he carries out campaigning," the order said.
Misuse of constitutional bodies by BJP, alleges Congress.
Meanwhile, the MP Congress has also alleged that the BJP that can clearly see its impending loss on the 28 seats in the bypolls has started misusing the constitutional bodies. It has said that the BJP was rattled by the support and sympathy of people of the state towards Kamal Nath and his overall popularity.
The Congress has said that however, Kamal Nath is a star of the people and people of the state are his campaigners. The party has pointed out that only four days ago, the ECI had given Nath a clean chit on the words used by him without malice. Now suddenly, the new order without any notice to Nath or the party shows the frustration and the illegal attempt to control constitutional bodies by the BJP. This also puts a question mark on the impartiality of the ECI, the party has said.
The party has also pointed out that several BJP leaders, including ministers Bisahulal Singh, Girraj Dandotia and Imarti Devi and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, used offensive language during the campaign, but the ECI is quiet on this aspect.
