The Congress on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Modi over the suspension of a poll observer, a Karnataka-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, in Odisha for checking a vehicle in PM’s convoy.
“An official was suspended by ECI for doing his job of inspecting vehicles. The rule cited governs the use of official vehicles for campaigning. It does not exempt PM’s vehicle from being searched. What is Modi carrying in the helicopter that he doesn’t want India to see?”, the Congress tweeted on Thursday, the day 95 seats are voting in 12 states and one UT in phase two of Lok Sabha elections.
Mohammed Mohsin, a 1996-batch IAS officer, was suspended on Tuesday after he checked the vehicle in Sambalpur, where the PM addressed an election rally. It wasn’t immediately clear who was travelling in the vehicle that was checked. The ECI order said that Mohsin had not acted in conformity with the ECI’s instructions dated April 10, 2014 and March 22, 2019 concerning those guarded by the Special Protection Group (SPG).
The order also said the Sambalpur district collector, who is also the district election officer, and the deputy inspector general of police had also sent a written report confirming that Mohsin’s actions had been contrary to the instructions of the EC and qualified as “dereliction of duty”.
The ECI did not go into the details of the action or what the guidelines for SPG protectees are.
First Published: Apr 18, 2019 10:51 IST
