'Utter violation of MCC': BJP complains to EC about Rahul Gandhi's tweet on Bihar polls

Amid the commencement of voting for the first phase of Bihar polls, BJP on Wednesday complained to the Election Commission of India about ex-Congress president Rahul Gandhi's tweet. In a letter addressed to Bihar's Chief Electoral Officer, BJP's state head of legal matters SD Sanjay pointed out that the Wayanad MP issued a statement asking for votes in "utter violation" of the Model Code of Conduct. In a Twitter post earlier in the day, Gandhi wrote, "Your vote should only be for Mahagatbandhan this time for ensuring justice, employment and the best interests of farmers and labourers. My best wishes to you all for the voting for the first phase of the Bihar elections". 

According to the BJP leader, the campaigning for the first phase got over on Monday itself. In wake of this, he requested the EC to take legal action against Gandhi for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. As per the EC, 45.88% of the registered voters have cast their votes till 3 pm. 

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Bihar polls

The Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 members out of which 38 seats are reserved for SC and two for ST. In the 2015 state polls, the Mahagatbandhan comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress won a whopping majority with 178 seats under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar stepped down as the CM citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP.

The other two phases of the Bihar election are on November 3 and November 7. The EC has announced that 7 lakh hand sanitizers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for the election. To observe the COVID-19 prevention norms, each polling booth will have less than 1000 voters. To decongest polling stations further, the voting time has been increased by one hour. Thus, people will be able to cast their votes from 7 am to 6 pm barring for the areas affected by Left-wing extremism. The counting of votes will take place on November 10. 

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