The Punjab Congress on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Election Commission alleging the SAD Government’s “blatant violation” of its directives against misuse of public funds and Government machinery for party promotion and publicity.
The party, at the same time, has demanded stringent action under the law against an “act of open defiance of the EC directive” by the Prakash Singh Badal led Akali Dal in Punjab.
The complaint comes amid media reports that, after asking Panchayats to pay for its hoardings, the Badal government has now asked government staff to distribute SAD promotional booklets door-to-door.
The staff has also been asked to obtain contact details of receivers “to ensure proper delivery”. PPCC, in its formal complaint, has urged the Commission to initiate stern action against the Badal government’s latest efforts to “misuse” government machinery for what is clearly a case of party publicity.
State Congress leaders Jagmohan Singh Kang, Sangat Singh, Dr Raj Kumar Verka and Karan Kaur Brar, in a joint statement, said that the act amounts to disobedience of the EC’s written instructions to all political parties to follow its directions with regard to use of public funds and government machinery.
In its recent directive, the EC has said that any violation of its directions “would be treated as violation of the commission of the Elections Symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.”
Government employees are already irked at the Badal government’s move to involve them in a task which, they say, only party workers should be assigned. The booklet they are being asked to distribute is a kind of performance sheet of the Badal Government.
Reportedly, the first lot of five lakh copies has already been dispatched to the Public Relations offices in the various districts for distribution. Additionally, the deputy commissioners (DCs) have been asked to identify the spots for putting up government hoardings and other publicity material.