Bhopal: The high voltage election campaign for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election ended on Wednesday evening with polling on November 17. The rallies of some of the star campaigners continued beyond the scheduled time of closure at 6 p.m. prompting the Election Commission to step in.
With this, a political controversy also erupted as the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), accusing the BJP of violating provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
A delegation of Congress leaders reached the EC office in Bhopal with a complaint that in a large election advertisement taken out by the BJP in newspapers across Madhya Pradesh, it has been announced that Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP candidate and Chief Minister of the state, will be speaking/interacting with all the brothers and sisters of Madhya Pradesh at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday.
In its representation, the Congress complained that Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the BJP’s election speech scheduled for 5:30 p.m. will be in violation of the silence period since there is no time limit provided for the speech. It cannot be allowed to be publicized in the remaining constituencies where the silence period shall be in effect from 6 p.m.
The EC stopped the election campaign and has issued directions to the Chief Electoral Officer, Madhya Pradesh to take the necessary steps to ensure that no campaigning takes place after the commencement of the silence period at 6 p.m. as per the provisions of Section 126(1)(b) of the RP Act 1951.
As per Section 126(1)(b), no person shall display to the public any election matter by means of cinematography, television or other similar apparatus in any polling area during the period of forty eight hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of polling.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was addressing his last rally in Bhopal but his speech lasted a few minutes after the scheduled time was already over. Kharge was addressing the rally of former minister P. C. Sharma who is contesting the election from Bhopal and who reminded him twice about the time. Kharge, however, said that he can’t finish his speech in the next two minutes, no matter if he is put in jail.
The voting for the single phase election for 230 assembly seats will be held on November 17. The voting will start at 7 a.m. and end at 5:30 p.m. The results will be announced on December 3 along with those of four other states – Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Assam
