Sena puts BJP in dock over ad expenses

MUMBAI: Hours after the campaigning for the Assembly polls ended, the Shiv Sena launched yet another attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday by lodging a complaint against its former ally’s senior leaders in the Election Commission (EC).

It has demanded their disqualification on the issue of unaccounted advertisement expenditure. The complaint has been filed against BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis, Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse and Ashish Shelar. The complaint also includes the names of former Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

The EC has fixed a cap of Rs28 lakh on expenditure for every contestant and if anyone is found spending above that limit, it could lead to disqualification. The Sena claimed all the leaders mentioned in the complaint violated the code.

Sena leader Diwakar Raote on Tuesday said all these leaders have featured in advertisements with senior leaders from Delhi, who are not contesting the elections, and so the expenses should be put in their names.

“All the leaders including Devendra Fadnavis, Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse, Ashish Shelar from the BJP have appeared in advertisements featuring PM Narendra Modi. In other parties, Prithviraj Chavan and Ajit Pawar are also seen in such advertisements. The election

law says that if a candidate appears in an ad with someone who is not contesting, then the expenditure needs to be attributed in the candidate’s name,” he said.

Raote added that the costs of all the advertisements should

be added and divided among the candidates whose photos appeared on them. “If that is done, then the EC will discover that all of them have exceeded their expenditure limit,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP decided to stay silent and not react to the Shiv Sena’s complaint. “We have decided not to criticise the Sena and I will maintain that. However, this only shows that the Sena is insecure and can feel the sand below its feet shift. Now the results will speak for us,” BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.