BJP, Akali Dal get notice for Amritsar roadshow

Chandigarh, March 20 (IANS) Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP have been issued show cause notice by the Election Commission for violation of the model code of conduct during the roadshow of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, a senior official said here Thursday.

Punjab's additional chief electoral officer Raminder Singh told media that the Amritsar returning officer has issued show cause notice to district unit presidents of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Akali Dal for violation of poll code during Jaitley's road show in Amritsar Tuesday.

The returning officer has imposed an expenditure of Rs.90,000 each on both parties. This has been calculated on removing the unauthorized hoardings and banners by the Amritsar Municipal Corporation officials.

Singh said that till date 177 complaints had been received by the poll panel in Punjab, out of which 117 dealt with violation of the code of conduct and 60 to other issues.

Appealing to people not to send complaints on those issues which were not directly or indirectly related with the election process, he expressed concern that certain complaints were deliberately sent to the poll panel to take refuge from due proceedings of ongoing criminal cases.