EC orders FIR against Mithun’s Malda rally

Malda: The Election Commission has asked police to lodge an FIR against organisers of BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty’s Friday rally at Malda’s Baishnabnagar for violating the model code of conduct and the 500-participant ceiling on rallies and roadshows.
The Bengal BJP had arranged the rally in support of Baishnabnagar candidate Swadhin Sarkar after party national president JP Nadda’s rally in the constituency was dropped.Hundreds of youths had gathered around the Malda helipad to catch a glimpse of ‘mahaguru’, far exceeding the EC-mandated cap in wake of the second wave of Covid-19.
Trinamool Congress senior and MP Saugata Roy took up two complaints with the EC drawing its attention to the rallies by Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Friday and Chakraborty on Saturday.
“Both these rallies have flouted the model conduct code and also the EC stipulation on rallies asking political parties to cap the participation to 500 only. We have urged the EC to keep both Ghosh and Chakraborty out of the election campaign in the last two phases,” Roy said.
The Malda district magistrate has ordered police to initiate a case under the Disaster Management Act.
Bengal BJP seniors Sayantan Basu and candidate Sarkar, present at Friday’s rally, couldn’t control the crowd. Chakraborty, while waving at the crowd, urged participants not to break Covid protocol.
“Don’t break discipline, be quiet and keep distance,” the actor said. But nobody listened to him and the crowd kept shouting for dialogues from his films.
BJP state vice-president Pratap Banerjee tried to give a weak defence. “We had arranged for a rally with 500 participants. But people came in huge numbers to catch a glimpse of Mithun Chakraborty. People also want to listen to the Bengal BJP president about the roadmap for ‘Sonar Bangla’,” he added.