A Congress delegation comprising Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay and other senior office-bearers of the party submitted their complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Monday. The Congress delegation complained about alleged partiality of officials in cases of reported violation of the election model code of conduct by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress. In the memorandum submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner, the Congress demanded that an FIR should be lodged against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister JP Nadda and other party leaders concerned for violation of the model code of conduct in holding and addressing a public rally during election campaign in Haridwar without requisite permission.

The Congress delegation stated that on February 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally in Haridwar without the requisite permission from the election commission. The party requested the election commission of India to direct the state election commission to lodge an FIR against the PM, Union minister JP Nadda, Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, BJP candidate Madan Kaushik and other party leaders for holding and addressing the public rally held without permission.

The Congress has also sought that an investigation be directed into the purported spending of “thousands of crores of rupees” and “unaccounted cash” pumped into the election campaign for the Vidhan Sabha election in Uttarakhand.

The memorandum submitted by the party further demands that only those postal ballots be counted which were polled by the designated time of 5 PM on February 15. According to the Congress, the election commission lodged FIR against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and chief minister Harish Rawat for a campaign rally suffering an inadvertent delay and extending past the approved time. However, when the violation in the BJP’s Haridwar rally was brought to notice of the authorities, a show cause notice was issued to the BJP and after the BJP failed to convince the election commission, a case was lodged against the party’s Haridwar unit whereas it is the prime minister and other party leaders mentioned above who are guilty of model code of conduct violation. Stating that there cannot be two yardsticks for filing of FIR, the Congress memorandum stresses that if case can be lodged against the Congress vice president and CM then it can also be lodged against the CM and others for violation of the model code of conduct.

The Congress in charge of Uttarakhand, Ambika Soni, cabinet minister Indira Hridayesh and Uttarakhand Mahila Congress president Sarita Arya were in the delegation which submitted the memorandum to the chief election commissioner, who along with two commissioners, all advisers and secretaries heard the complaint of the Congress delegation and assured that the issues raised would be looked into, said the Chief Minister’s chief spokesman Surendra Kumar.