The district election officer of Mumbai on Monday issued a notice to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for writing that Kanhaiya Kumar should not win from Begusarai, even if electoral voting machines (EVMs) are tampered with.
Mr. Raut had expressed his views in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana in a column titled ‘Rokhtok’.
The election officer’s notice to Mr. Raut reads, “As mentioned in the [model code of conduct], Clause 1, Sub-clause 4, all parties and candidates under the rules of contesting clean and fair elections, must avoid actions that will stand as an ‘offence’. It has come to light that in [the] column ‘Rokhtok’, published in Saamana dated March 31, 2019, it was stated that ‘It will be alright even if there is a cozenage of EVM in Begusarai’.”
The notice directs Mr. Raut to submit his response on the column, which has “tried to create distrust about the usage of EVM” and create a “turbid atmosphere”, at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The office will subsequently submit a report on the matter to the Election Commission of India at the earliest, it says.