CPI-M writes to EC against PM Modi’s speech seeking votes

Invoking the Balakot air strikes inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday asked first-time voters for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the daring operation to target a terror camp.

Modi also urged the voters to dedicate their first vote to the slain CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack and to the cause of providing pucca houses to the poor, water in farms of farmers and ‘healthcare for all’. The first phase of the multi-phase parliamentary elections begins Thursday.

The remarks by Modi on the IAF operation on February 26 while addressing rallies in Maharashtra and Karnataka prompted the CPI-M to write a letter to the Election Commission(EC) alleging violation of model code.

“With deep anguish we are drawing your attention to the latest violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also violating the specific direction of the Election Commission to refrain from invoking the armed forces for seeking votes,” CPI-M politburo member Nilotpal Basu said.

Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters in Delhi there should be no politics in the name of our martyrs, but it is happening and the ‘sad part’ is that the Election Commission is also not doing anything about it.

The EC issued an advisory on March 19 asking parties and their candidates to desist from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces during their election campaign.

“Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike,” Modi said, appealing to the first-time voters at his rally in Ausa in Latur district in Maharashtra.

“I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the ‘veer jawans’ (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan).

“Can your first vote be dedicated to the ‘veer shaheed’ (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack),” Modi said. As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed in an attack on their convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir by a Jaish suicide bomber on February 14.