Having submitted memorandums to the Election Commission, raising the issue in Parliament and staging a protest at Chief Electoral Officer’s office, the JMM once again on Thursday objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit of Sahibganj, two days ahead of the littipara bypoll.
The party wrote a letter to the Commission complaining about the announcements done and development projects commenced by the PM over there. “Our apprehensions have proved right today when the Prime Minister at Sahibganj made populist announcements that were mostly about the programmes started during the UPA. His taking credit for the Ganga bridge and Sahibganj-Govindpur Road is like misleading the people. His address was to influence the voters of littipara,” read the letter written by party General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.
The JMM is of the view that the PM handing over appointment letters to Paharia tribes who reside in large numbers in the poll-bound constituency, was violation of the model code of conduct.
“He praised and rolled out schemes for Paharias by ignoring other tribal communities. Knowing well that littipara houses significant number of the primitive tribe people, he was clearly attempting to influence the voters. Distributing smart phone was also like tempting the voters. We have had raised these issues before you earlier as well and got an assurance that any programme affecting Pakur district would not be included into the programme which was not adhered to,” said the party.
The JMM in its letter had further requested the Commission to ensure free and fair election at littipara on April 9 while apprehending possible tempering with the EVMs by the BJP.