Mumbai, 19 Nov: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the Election Commission of India had become a caged parrot and a sham and accused it of \u201cturning a blind eye\u201d to the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
\nIn his weekly column \u2018Rokthok\u2019 in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece \u2018Saamana\u2019, Rautaccused the BJP of resorting to religious propaganda to \u201cbribe\u201d voters after losing ground in five states where Assembly polls are being held (in November).
\nLatching on to Union Home Minister Amit Shah\u2019s statement in Madhya Pradesh last week promising people of government-organised tours to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya if the BJP retains power, Raut said this was clearly campaigning on religious lines.
\nIf such a statement had been made by a Congress leader, then the ECI, like the Enforcement Directorate, would have been at the doorstep with a \u201cwarrant\u201d, the Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP alleged.
\n\u201cGarnering votes by bribing voters is shocking and the Election Commission had turned a blind eye, which is detrimental to democracy,\u201d Raut asserted.
\nThe idol consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is scheduled for January 22.
\n\u201c(Former chief election commissioner) T N Seshan, during his tenure, showed the poll body did not even have to roar, it just had to wiggle its tail and it would instill fear in all political parties. The Election Commission has become a sham,\u201d Raut said.
\n\u201cWhatever has happened (during poll campaigning in five states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram)) has proved the Election Commission has become a caged parrot,\u201d Raut alleged.
\nWhen Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray sought votes for party candidate Ramesh Prabhu on the issue of Hindutva in the 1987 Vile Parle bypoll, his voting rights were revoked for six years, Raut pointed out. Sena MLAs Suryakant Mahadik, Ramakant Mayekar and Prabhu, who won the bypoll, were disqualified.
\n\u201cThey (BJP) managed the Election Commission and other constitutional bodies and fought the Hindutva battle,\u201d Raut alleged.
\nOn Thursday, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) wrote to ECI over Shah\u2019s Ram Temple tour promise and sarcastically asked if the poll body had relaxed the model code of conduct.
\nIn the letter, the Shiv Sena (UBT) accused the ECI of practising \u201cdouble standards\u201d in favour of the BJP. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mumbai, 19 Nov: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the Election Commission of India had become a caged parrot and a sham and accused it of \u201cturning a blind eye\u201d to the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In his weekly column \u2018Rokthok\u2019 in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece \u2018Saamana\u2019, Rautaccused the BJP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-228828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}