Complaint against Cong over ‘malicious’ video

DHARAMSHALA: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday wrote to the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Himachal Pradesh complaining against opposition Congress for spreading “misleading and defamatory” information on a microblogging site.

Congress on Sunday shared an old video on its twitter handle in which a woman is seen allegedly thrashing a person with her sandal.

“A BJP legislator being welcomed with a shoe in Hamirpur,” Congress had tweeted, warning that the BJP leaders throughout the country will meet a similar fate as public was angry over their “jumlas” (false promises).

The party had also tagged chief minister Jai Ram Thakur in the tweet, posing a question: “How long will you hide your face?”. The video pertains to 2018 when a transport union president, affiliated with Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, was manhandled by a woman employee.

In its complaint, the BJP alleged that Congress had put up the tweet “intentionally and deliberately with a malicious intent, even when they knew that the video has no connection with the BJP”.

“This is a part of a larger conspiracy being hatched by Congress to malign the image of the BJP, its legislators and chief minister, for their political gains,” state BJP general secretary Chander Mohan Thakur said.

He said since Congress has not been able to counter the BJP agenda of development, they were stooping low and resorting to this kind of “misleading, defamatory, malicious, false and derogatory propaganda” through different means, including social media.

SHIMLA DC TRANSFERRED ON EC’S DIRECTIVE

The Himachal Pradesh government transferred the deputy commissioner-cum-returning officer (RO) of Shimla on the directions of the election commission of India , a state official said.

Director town and country planning, Rajeshwar Goel, has been posted as new Shimla DC in place of Amit Kashyap, Himachal Pradesh special secretary personnel Amarjeet Singh said.

Kashyap has reportedly been shifted in connection with his “inaction” in alleged tampering of EVMS by then Chopal sub-divisional magistrate Mukesh Repaswal in October last year.

HP Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said his party had lodged the complaint with ECI and the state government at the time “but the state government did not bother to take any action”. The ECI transferred him after model code of conduct came into force, he added.