Congress candidate Sushant Mishra has alleged that he was attacked by Election Commission officials
New Delhi: Sushant Mishra, the Congress candidate for the Rithala assembly seat, has claimed that Election Commission officers attacked him and attempted to prevent him from participating in a foot march. Mishra claimed to have protested to the Election Commission about the occurrence.
“With permission, Congress was going on a padyatra. Officials from the Election Commission appeared out of nowhere without introducing themselves. They attempted to halt our march while concealing their identities,” the Congress candidate told the media report.
“This occurrence is very depressing…We have filed a complaint on the issue, and the Election Commission has also received the complaint,” he said.
Jairam Ramesh, the General Secretary in charge of Communications for Congress, also brought up the alleged incident in a post on X, claiming that on January 25, an Election Commission official “attacked and injured” Mishra.
Sushant Mishra (@sushant_m), a candidate for the Rithala assembly from @INCIndia, was assaulted and hurt yesterday by a @ECISVEEP official. Additionally, the officer attempted to prevent him from going on a padyatra, for which the Delhi Police had previously granted authorization,” Jairam Ramesh said in a post.
The head of Congress described it as a “case of partisan behavior” on the part of a constitutional body’s official.
“During the Delhi Assembly elections, Sushant Mishra has been aggressively bringing up allegations of other candidates’ transgressions of the Model Code of Conduct. An official of a constitutional authority such as the Election Commission is obviously engaging in political behavior in this instance,” the tweet said.
However, in response to Ramesh’s tweet, the District Magistrate of North-West Delhi’s official account described the accusations as “baseless.”
According to the DM and District Election Officer (DEO), “The allegation of biasness is baseless, as all FST teams and election staff are conducting their duties fairly and impartially to ensure a level playing field for all contesting candidates and as per the mandate of ECI,” the post said.
The DEO claims that the Congress campaigners were only permitted to canvass homes from A-953, Friends Properties, Budh Vihar Phase-2 to Gali No. 15. Nevertheless, the campaigning was conducted at Gali No. 25 and went on beyond the permitted hour of 6 PM.
“One INC Party was campaigning in Gali No. 25, Shyam Colony, Budh Vihar Phase-2, when we arrived at the location. “The campaign organizer failed to present a copy of the permission for the activity, despite the FST head’s request,” the post said.
The DM also brought up the fact that Gali no. 25 was not covered by the campaigning permission sheet that Ramesh had displayed on his post.
“From A-953, Friends Properties, Budh Vihar Phase-2 to Gali No. 15, door-to-door canvassing was permitted per the license document (No. 28AC15415) cited in the tweet. The post went on to say, “But the campaigning was happening in Gali No. 25, which was not covered by the stated permission.”
