Madhya Pradesh: 'Ajmer Yatra’ Put Off Following Congress Complaint

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): The issue of sending Muslim voters to Ajmer for just Rs 51, a day before polling for the assembly elections, heightened when this post went viral on the social media platform here. Congress complained with the chief election commissioner, calling it a conspiracy to keep Muslim voters away from voting. This ‘Ajmer Yatra’ was cancelled as soon as the investigation was ordered.

Voting is to be held on 230 assembly seats on November 17. Meanwhile, a day before the voting in Ujjain, the matter heated up with the post of ‘Chalo Ajmer...Chalo Ajmer... a two-day trip for Rs 51’ on the social media platform.

Accusing the Muslim community of being kept away from voting, Rajesh Trivedi, husband of Congress candidate from North assembly constituency Maya Trivedi, termed the yatra being organised for a day and two days before the voting as a conspiracy by the BJP. Their election agent advocate Dharmendra Sharma filed a complaint to the chief election commissioner.

A copy of the complaint was also sent to the returning officer, SP along with Mahakal police station. The Election Commission handed over the investigation of the matter to the tehsildar and issued instructions to collect the details after obtaining clarifications from those appealing for the Yatra after which the journey was postponed.

Among 2.28 lakh voters, there are more than 18 per cent of Muslim voters in the Ujjain North assembly constituency. Many people also did their registration for the Ajmer Yatra after the post went viral on social media platforms. This journey was scheduled to leave for Ajmer on the morning of November 16, which was to reach on November 17 and then return on November 18.

The post was made viral on social media platforms by one Manzoor Dawood Mitra Mandali. Manzoor said, “I and 40 members of my family have been going to Ajmer Sharif during Diwali holidays for the last many years. A post was posted on a social media platform so that whoever wants to go with us can go. It is wrong to link this with politics. But now the journey has been postponed.”