EC seeks report to find out who’ll foot the bill for Raj Thackeray’s Nanded rally

MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief electoral officer Ashwani Kumar’s office has called for a report from Nanded’s returning officer on MNS President Raj Thackeray’s largely attended rally there on Friday.
“Once, we receive the report, we will examine the aspect of expenditure on the meeting. It is for the first time that a political leader, who is neither contesting the election nor his party, is addressing a series of election rallies across the state.Before arriving at a conclusion, we will have to examine all legal aspects,” a senior election branch official told TOI.
Senior BJP leader and school education minister Vinod Tawde had written to Ashwani Kumar, saying the entire expenditure for Thackeray’s rally should be added to the account of Congress candidate Ashok Chavan, who is contesting from Nanded. Chavan has distanced himself from Thackeray’s rally in his hometown. “We never asked Thackeray to address an election rally at Nanded; it was his own decision. In the past too, we have made it clear that we will not have any kind of alliance with MNS,” said the former CM.
Tawde took the view that in his address, Thackeray had appealed to the people to defeat PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and elect nominees of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. “It was an election rally for the Congress and NCP. Under such circumstances, the expenditure incurred on the meeting should be added to Chavan’s account,” Tawde said.
The election branch official said: “It was a political speech. The returning officer will have to examine if Thackeray asked people to vote in favour of a political party. In that case, we will have to take a decision on expenditure and to which party it should be added.”