A delegation of the Left parties on Tuesday met Election Commission (EC) officials and demanded that release of the film based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi be deferred, claiming it to be a “propaganda material”. The delegation led by CPI national secretary D Raja and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Nilotpal Basu, pointed out serious law and order situations in Tripura and West Bengal.
“The delegation had a detailed discussion with the EC on the release of the biopic on Narendra Modi. The delegation pointed out that there are well-established precedents on withholding the release of such propaganda materials during the pendency of the elections. The poll body, however, was non-committal,” a statement from the two Left parties said on Tuesday.
The delegation also reiterated the demand of matching the VVPAT records with those of the EVM for randomly chosen 50 per cent of the booths. The EC pointed out that as per the Supreme Court direction, the Commission will be submitting an affidavit on March 28 on this subject.
“The delegation also pointed out the serious law and order situation in Tripura and West Bengal, where the ruling party goons are particularly targeting the Left Front and its candidates,” the statement said.
They also raised the Kolkata airport incident involving the wife of Abhishek Banerjee, MP and Trinamool Congress candidate in Diamond Harbour and the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The delegation urged that there should be a probe by the Commission to ascertain the truth as this has financial implications and a possible impact on free and fair polls.
The Congress too had moved the poll body to get the release of the biopic, with Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi playing Modi, deferred till the final phase voting in the Lok Sabha polls on May 19. Earlier, the DMK, NCP and the NDA ally RPI(A) have approached the poll body seeking deferment of the Modi’s biopic till the Lok Sabha polls is over.