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News Desk: Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) has petitioned the Election Commission against the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on advertisements of various central schemes and Covid vaccination certificates.
A delegation of the West Bengal ruling party met the EC on Wednesday and termed the use of PM’s photo as a “blatant misuse of official machinery” and violation of the model code of conduct that is in force in the state.
West Bengal goes to polls in 8 phases between March 27 and April 29. The ruling TMC is locked in an intense political battle with the BJP, which has emerged as the principal challenger in West Bengal.
“We sought the intervention of the poll panel to remove hoardings advertising central government schemes with images of Modi at petrol pumps,” state minister Firhad Hakim said after meeting the EC officials.
On Tuesday, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien had alleged that the PM photos have been used on the Covid-19 vaccination certificates even after the announcement of poll dates.
The Bengal BJP dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the vaccination drive had started before the announcement of the election dates.
“If a government project starts before the declaration of an election, it may continue in the same form. At petrol pumps, hoardings are advertising several welfare projects of the Centre. These are put up on private land,” Ghosh said.