By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday said it will petition the Supreme Court after the Election Commission (EC) said payments to banned groups in Manipur were not a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said he is shocked at the EC order that payments to banned militant groups by the Manipur government and the Centre were not a violation of the MCC and alleged that this has “murdered” elections.
“Shockingly ECI held large payments to banned militant groups made on 1.1.22 and 1.3.22 by Manipur Government do not violate Model Code of Conduct. They do and I’m petitioning Supreme Court. Payments were suddenly released during poll period after long gap. It murdered elections in 11 seats,” the former Union minister said on Twitter.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the payments to banned militant outfits amounted to a clear violation of the promise of ensuring free-and-fair elections.
“We are not satisfied with the response that we have got from the chief electoral officer and we will be seeking legal remedies and will be approaching the Supreme Court on this,” she told reporters here.
Shrinate said the issue somewhere violates the very fair-and-free premise on which elections should be held.
The Suspension of Operations groups were given money, first on February 1, which was about Rs 15.72 crore, and then again on March 1, which was over Rs 92 lakh, and this raises several questions, she said.
The Congress leader said this money was not given for a few years and suddenly, it was disbursed “obviously with the idea of impacting voting in the four districts” of Manipur.
She said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) senior observer for the Manipur polls has categorically stated that this amounts to bribery and violates the promise of ensuring a free, fair and legal election.
The party had approached the chief electoral officer in the northeastern state as well as the EC in New Delhi.
“We have not got a favourable response from the chief electoral officer, who said this was a routine payment. But the truth remains, these payments have been made from the (Union) home ministry to the state government and this is nothing but a blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct. It amounts to bribery and blatant corruption,” Shrinate alleged.
She wondered that at a time when one lakh employees of the Manipur government have not been paid their salaries for over two months, the mid-day-meal scheme cooks have not been paid salaries for 18 months, pensioners have not received their money, how is money going into the accounts of the Suspension of Operations groups.
“Our demand continues to be that there should be re-polling,” the Congress leader said.
Assembly polls in Manipur are being held in two phases and the results will be announced on March 10.
