Bhopal: The slugfest over Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly by-polls between BJP and the Congress heightened on Friday when the BJP leaders, who had gone to the chief electoral officer Saleena Singh to submit a memorandum against the Congress, exchanged hot words with her.
The bone of contention was chief electoral officer rejecting the complaint against Congress candidate from Mungaoli Brijendra Yadav, alleging that he had distributed money to the voters. The complaint was dismissed on the basis of the report of Ashoknagar district collector.
The BJP leaders objected to the decision. State BJP general secretary V D Sharma told Singh that she had given clean-chit to the Congress candidate without making a proper inquiry. She said she was going by the rule book. When the BJP leaders tried to say something more, the CEO cut them short, asking them to come to her chamber if they wanted to argue on the issue. The CEO was meeting the BJP delegation in the meeting hall of the office. She also asked them not to talk with the media on the office premises.
A livid BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agarwal later told newspersons that Saleena Singh is merely the “CEO and not the CJI (Chief Justice of India).”
The BJP delegation also submitted another complaint to CEO demanding action against Mahendra Singh Yadav, the Congress candidate from Kolaras. They said that Yadav and his accomplices had forcibly restrained BJP MLA from Bhind Narendra Singh Kushwaha and had assaulted him. A case of violation of model of conduct has already been registered against Kushwaha at the directive of the Election Commission. The BJP also alleged that Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat had created a ruckus at the official residence of Shivpuri district collector.
