The Congress on Sunday approached the Election Commission of India to stop the caretaker government in Telangana from taking out full-page advertisements of government with photos of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao until the election process is over.
The principal opposition party has also asked the Commission to restrict the governments in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to immediately stop public funds being used in yatras like Jan Ashirwad (M.P.), Gaurav Yatra (Rajasthan) and Vikas Yatra (Chhattisgarh).
The party has attached a copy of the recent Rajasthan High Court verdict ordering immediate stoppage of government funds being used for Gaurav Yatra.
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Writing to Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat, head of the Congress legal department Vivek Tankha said, “Of late, the people of India are witnessing the excessive propensity of State governments and Chief Ministers to put in large advertisements in national newspapers at public expense. It’s an abhorrent practice and a blatant misuse of public funds... Directions and orders are issued to officers of State machinery to mobilise and aggregate paid crowds and then to have the event televised and publicised through press and media.”