TMC writes to EC on use of helicopters by Modi, Sonia
3 April 2014 11:51 PM GMT
Stating that helicopters owned by a public sector undertakings could not be be used by a political party, TMC general secretary Mukul Roy, in the letter to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath stated, ‘Kindly issue clarification failing which we will be deprived of natural justice under the statute.’ Roy referred to BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi using a Pawan Hans helicopter for attending a public meeting at Bareli in UP on Tuesday.
‘It is reported that Sonia Gandhi was also seen on TV channels using a Pawan Hans helicopter in Karnataka on 30 March,’ the letter stated. ‘If the above facts are correct, kindly issue a corrigendum to your instruction dated 9 April, 2009,’ it stated.
The letter requested the EC to clarify if a privately owned commercial helicopter leased out to a government undertaking like Pawan Hans Ltd could be used as a private helicopter for election campaign by political functionaries including the chief minister.
The TMC letter also referred to EC’s instruction dated 9 April 2009 which stated that aircraft or helicopter owned by government and public sector undertakings should not be used by political functionaries during election campaign.
Bail to Masood in Modi hate speech case
Saharanpur (UP): Congress Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood, arrested for hate speech in which he allegedly threatened to ‘chop’ Narendra Modi ‘into pieces’, was on Wednesday granted bail after defence argued that he was wrongly charged under sections for hurting religious sentiments. Masood, who was sent to jail for 14 days after a video footage of a rally in Saharanpur showed him attacking Modi had gone viral on the web, was granted bail by additional district judge Chaturth Chavanprakash here on two bonds of Rs 50,000 each with a warning not to make such remarks.
During the proceedings, the defence counsel argued that Masood had been wrongly charged under sections pertaining to hurting religious sentiments saying his statements were not derogatory to any particular religious group.
‘It is reported that Sonia Gandhi was also seen on TV channels using a Pawan Hans helicopter in Karnataka on 30 March,’ the letter stated. ‘If the above facts are correct, kindly issue a corrigendum to your instruction dated 9 April, 2009,’ it stated.
The letter requested the EC to clarify if a privately owned commercial helicopter leased out to a government undertaking like Pawan Hans Ltd could be used as a private helicopter for election campaign by political functionaries including the chief minister.
The TMC letter also referred to EC’s instruction dated 9 April 2009 which stated that aircraft or helicopter owned by government and public sector undertakings should not be used by political functionaries during election campaign.
Bail to Masood in Modi hate speech case
Saharanpur (UP): Congress Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood, arrested for hate speech in which he allegedly threatened to ‘chop’ Narendra Modi ‘into pieces’, was on Wednesday granted bail after defence argued that he was wrongly charged under sections for hurting religious sentiments. Masood, who was sent to jail for 14 days after a video footage of a rally in Saharanpur showed him attacking Modi had gone viral on the web, was granted bail by additional district judge Chaturth Chavanprakash here on two bonds of Rs 50,000 each with a warning not to make such remarks.
During the proceedings, the defence counsel argued that Masood had been wrongly charged under sections pertaining to hurting religious sentiments saying his statements were not derogatory to any particular religious group.
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