Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who had to move the High Court to get permission for overnight halt in Jind on Friday last, has now written to the Election Commission asking if he can stay in the state capital Chandigarh, which goes to polling on May 19.
Manohar Lal was stranded due to bad weather in Jind but was not allowed by the EC officials to stay in Jind, citing model code of conduct on Friday last. It was only after the hearing of Punjab and Haryana High Court on a plea by his aide at late night that he was allowed to stay at a guest house in Jind.
Haryana's Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan had said earlier that the Jind deputy commissioner, who is also the returning officer, had cited the model code of conduct while refusing permission to Chief Minister and reasoned that after the campaigning is over, ministers and MLAs cannot stay overnight in constituencies except where they are registered voters.
Manohar Lal is a registered voter in Karnal, from where he is an MLA.
After facing the situation in Jind, Manohar Lal’s Additional Principal Secretary has now written to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora seeking clarification on whether he can stay in the city after the campaigning ends there on Friday.
The letter written on behalf of the Chief Minister mentioned the circumstances under which his aide had to move the High Court earlier on his behalf.
The Chief Minister would like to be advised by the EC on the course of action that has to be followed given the circumstances as mentioned, he wrote seeking to know if Chief Minister can stay in Chandigarh when poll campaigning comes to a close in the union territory on Friday.
Notably, the Chief Minister, whose chopper could not take off for Chandigarh from Sirsa due to inclement weather on Friday evening, had decided to head to the state capital by road, but was stuck due to a dust storm.