Maharashtra: MNS chief’s rally expenses put election officials in a fix

PUNE: Expenses incurred in the organisation of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) rallies have left the election officials in a bind. They are yet to decide on how or whom to assign the MNS rally expenses to.


Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and minister Vinod Tawde had raised this issue with chief election officer Ashwani Kumar last week. Tawde demanded that these expenses be added to the accounts of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party candidates who benefit from MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s rallies.

In his memorandum — after an MNS rally in Mumbai, where Raj Thackeray had appealed to the people to vote for the Congress — Tawade said that though there is no official alliance declared between the Congress-NCP combine and the MNS, and no MNS candidate is contesting the polls, Thackeray’s rallies are indirectly benefitting the Congress and NCP candidates.

The election panel has a poll expense cap of Rs 70 lakh for each contestant, and addition of expenses incurred for MNS rallies will upset the candidate’s spending plan.

On Tuesday, the election officials told TOI that they are still undecided on what course of action to take.

“We are yet to give any direction on this memorandum,” said a senior official from the state chief electoral office.

BJP leaders had taken strong exception to the MNS chief praising and supporting the Congress in the rallies attended by huge crowds. In Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, Thackeray had recently asked people to vote for the Congress, saying that if one can experiment with Modi one can do so with Rahul Gandhi as well.

“Why can’t the Congress-NCP combine declare Raj Thackeray as a star campaigner, as we have done for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah? That way, the alliance will not have to bother about the expenses of its candidates,” said Tawade. “Otherwise, the Congress-NCP combine should let the expenses be added to their candidates’ accounts,” he added.

On Tuesday, he told TOI that the chief electoral office has called for the audio and video clipping of the MNS sabhas in

Solapur

and Latur.

MNS Pune city president and spokesperson Ajay Shinde, however, has another take. “We are a registered party and we may not be contesting elections, but we have the right to put forth our point. If the election office directs us to submit expenses for the rallies and sabhas, we shall do so as a party. We have sought all permissions from the election office,” he said.

Political watchers said this is a strange situation, where a party has no candidates contesting but has been supporting another party without declaring any alliance. “They would have to ideally add it to the party account of the MNS and not any other,” said an expert.

Earlier, Congress president and ex-CM Ashok Chavan’s had said that his party was not concerned with Thackeray’s rallies. “The Congress is not associated with his rallies, we have absolutely no role. We are not concerned with the expenditure incurred on its rallies. It is for the EC to take a call,” he said.

Meanwhile, paying no heed to the objections, the MNS chief continued with his rallies. On Tuesday, he spoke at Ichalkaranji. He is scheduled to attend sabhas at

Karad

on April 17,

Sinhagad

Road on April 18 and Raigad on April 19. Thackeray will also address rallies in Panvel, South Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Mumbai (North East).