Election Commission cites ‘non-existing’ rule to stop checking PM’s chopper

Did the Election Commission of India cite a ‘non-existent’ rule to suspend a General Observer Md Mohsin after he dared to check the chopper used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to campaign in Odisha?

On Monday/Tuesday video clips of union minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan arguing with police officers at a helipad in Odisha went viral. The minister was apparently objecting to the policemen who wanted to conduct a routine check of the choppers used by the PM and BJP leaders accompanying him.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has complained to the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and demanded action against Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly misbehaving with government officers on election duty.

The party alleged that Mr Pradhan prevented officials from checking his helicopter.

"Yesterday as aired by several TV channels, it was seen that BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan misbehaved and prevented government officers from checking his helicopter and a sealed suitcase, which was being done as part of normal election duty checking," the complaint stated.

While the audio was not distinct enough, it seemed the union minister was threatening the officials of dire consequences. On Wednesday evening the Election Commission suspended the Observer and justified the suspension by saying that the Observer had no authority to order checking of the PM’s chopper.

The order caused outrage with people citing instances of the police inspecting choppers used by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and others. If convoys of chief ministers can be checked, why not the convoys of the Prime Minister, was the question asked.

On Thursday, the Congress tweeted the image of the ECI order and questioned the veracity of the claim that SPG protectees like the Prime Minister have been kept out of the routine inspections during the campaign.

An aide of a senior INC leader also tweeted to confirm that convoys of both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, both of them protected by the Special Protection Group (SPG), were searched on earlier occasions.

The controversy comes in the wake of the complaint, supported by a video clip, that a mysterious trunk had been unloaded from the Prime Minister’s chopper and loaded into an unidentified private vehicle, which sped away from the helipad at Chitradurga in Karnataka last week.

The Election Commission has maintained a stony silence so far on the complaint.

The Commission has been accused of treating the Prime Minister and the BJP President with kid gloves. While both have seemingly violated the Model Code of Conduct repeatedly, the Commission has chosen to leave them alone till now. It has neither given them a clean chit nor has it given them a rap on the knuckle.