Congress declared no laws were violated. (File)
New Delhi:
On Monday, Parliament referred to the Election Commission that no violation of the Representation of the People Act was made during Bharat Jodo Yatra and that children were not used to campaign, because it made the leading children’s rights agency NCPCR’s complaint “frivolous” and “baseless”.
Congress has also filed a complaint against the BJP, alleging that the ruling party and its functions have “used children in a bad and corrupt manner”.
A congressional delegation including secretary general Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate party spokesman and head of social media and senior leader Salman Khurshid met with Election Commission officials to respond to the announcement by the Electoral Commission. agency that oversees the National Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights (NCPCR) Complaints Poll.
“We met the members of the Electoral Commission and informed them that there had not been any violation of the Representation of the People Act or the model rule during the Bharat Jodo Yatra period. We don’t understand why the Electoral Commission informed us of the NCPCR complaint,” Mr Ramesh told reporters after meeting EC officials.
“We presented a document detailing childish behavior by the NCPCR alleging that children were being used (in Bharat Jodo Yatra). Only one painting competition was held and Rahul Gandhi participated in it. an award distribution ceremony,” he said.
Mr Ramesh said it was completely untrue that children were used for election campaigns.
He said: “Thousands of people are on the streets and want to have selfies taken with Rahul Gandhi. This is not an illegal act, there is no election campaign. Rahul Gandhi did not ask for it. children vote for the party”.
Since the founding of NCPCR in 2007, this is the first time it has been headed by a “BJP-RSS function,” said Mr. Ramesh. Priyank Kanoongo is the president of NCPCR.
“We told the EC that this is completely baseless. No laws have been broken. Masses of people are coming, tens of thousands of children looking for selfies. It was the BJP that abused children when Rahul Gandhi meets young children, propaganda is being spread and language is being used (there for all to see) Even a photo of Rahul Gandhi with his sister’s daughter has been misused purpose,” said Mr Ramesh.
He said that all of this is another example that the BJP is in disarray and will do anything to damage Kanyakumari over Kashmir Yatra, which he insists will continue.
Mr. Khurshid said they had told the EC that they should ask other agencies to do their job and not delegate their work to the agency that oversees the poll.
A few days after Bharat Jodo Yatra started on September 7, NCPCR has ask EC to initiate the necessary action and investigate a complaint against Congress and Rahul Gandhi for alleged “child abuse as a political tool” within the Bharat Jodo Yatra party.
The NCPCR said it is receiving complaints, which include allegations that Rahul Gandhi and Jawahar Bal Manch are politically targeting children and getting them involved in political activities.
According to the complainant, it is alleged that “many disturbing images and videos have been circulated on social media in which children can be seen being targeted and asked to participate in their campaign with a political agenda under the slogan ‘Bharat Jodo “Bacche Jodo”, the NCPCR has said.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
