The Congress sought immediate intervention of the Election Commission on a purported letter issued by the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) in support of the BJP just three days ahead of the polling in the first phase of the Manipur Assembly polls on February 28, calling it an attempt to intimidate the voter.
The party also pointed out that the letter that has been doing the rounds on social media since Friday comes just three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and two days after Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the State.
The KNO statement apparently signed by outfit’s president P. S. Haokip says as the Union Home Minister and the BJP leadership have promised “swift settlement of Kuki aspirations”, the outfit will support all BJP candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls and warned that acting against its appeal would be seen as “acting against Kuki interests”.
The Congress in a memorandum submitted to the State Election Commission in Manipur said the letter seeks to threaten the voters with dire consequences for not voting for the BJP.
“This statement has been issued with the full knowledge and connivance of the Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister of Manipur,” a Congress memorandum signed by its legislative party leader Okram Ibobi Singh, senior observer Jairam Ramesh and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, reads.
The party has demanded that the State Chief Electoral Officer should take a serious view of this “dangerous, diabolical statement that violates in unmistakable language the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct.”
The party has also demanded that the EC must take steps to completely remove the fear among voters that the Kuki National Organisation’s statement intends to spread.
Mr. Ibobi said, “The Union leaders conducted with the Home Minister a house campaign in Churachandpur district. The same will be repeated in some other districts on March 2”.
For a long time the BJP government in Manipur has been claiming that the law and order has improved. Mr. Ibobi said, “The same government did not lift the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958. The BJP manifesto did not mention anything on this issue. It is during the Congress Ministry that it was lifted from seven Assembly segments in 2014.”
(With inputs from Iboyaima Laithangbam in Imphal)
