Saket Gokhale Claims Model Code Of Conduct Violation By BJP, Files Compliant To EC
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday officially announced the Bharata Janata Party’s (BJP) new membership drive recently. This initiative was designed to renew the memberships of existing members and attract new ones.
However, TMC leader Sakhet Gokhale has raised a possible violation of the Model Code of Conduct in Haryana due to the ongoing “missed call” membership drive. The TMC leader has filed a complaint regarding the issue with CEO Haryana and ECI demanding a notice to be issued to BJP.
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Sharing the complaint letter on X, Sakhet wrote that for the past four days, the saffron party had launched a “missed call” membership drive across India. As per the process, a person will have to give a missed call to a number in order to receive an online form for BJP membership which collects their demographic, contact, and voter information details.
Election interference by BJP in Haryana?
For the last 4 days, BJP has been conducting a “missed call” membership drive across India. A person supposedly needs to give a missed call to a number & they receive an online form for BJP membership which collects their demographic,… pic.twitter.com/cyI4HljLbJ
— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) September 6, 2024
However, since Haryana is gearing up for assembly polls, the BJP is alleged to have used the new “membership drive” to target voters in the states. “Elections are currently ongoing in Haryana. BJP is using a “membership drive” to target voters in Haryana & collect their details which will be used to send them targeted propaganda & campaigning messages”.
Stating it to be a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), he added, “This is a CLEAR violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) & an attempt to unduly influence voters during elections.”
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Sakhet further alleged that the Election Commission has chosen to turn a blind eye to the issue. By filing a complaint to EC, Sakhet has demanded immediate action to be taken if found that the voters of Haryana are being enrolled.
In his letter, he stated, “Conducting a membership campaign by seeking personal and electoral data of voters when Assembly Elections are ongoing in Haryana is a brazen violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) laid down by the Election Commission of India. There is no clarity as to how the BJP is ensuring that people of Haryana are not being enrolled as members of the party while the MCC for the ongoing elections is in force”.
