Maharashtra: FIRs against state BJP chief Bawankule & LoP Wadettiwar for MCC violation

Mumbai: The office of the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said on Friday that FIRs have been filed against state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Waddetiwar for alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

These FIRs have been filed after the Election Commission of India received complaints.

Maharashtra CEO S. Chockalingam said that an FIR has been filed against Maharashtra unit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekar Bawankule in Thane for the party advertisement in newspapers suggesting that victory for the opposition would lead to celebrations in Pakistan.

On the other hand, an FIR against Waddetiwar was filed in Nagpur based on a complaint by the BJP over remarks made during a press conference in Nagpur that ATS chief Hemant Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab but by a policeman close to the RSS and called BJP candidate Ujjwal Nikam "anti-national" for hiding this fact.

Chockalimgam said a total of 54 complaints have been filed against different political parties, of which 24 were investigated and "decisions were taken" towards them.

He said out of the 54, four FIRs have been filed in Baramati where action has been taken on complaints of distribution of cash were received.

The Maharashtra CEO added there are 1,600 flying squads and 2,000 static surveillance teams in the state.