Agriculture minister, 19 others booked for code violation

PATNA: An FIR was lodged at Khagaul police station on Sunday against 20 people, including state agriculture minister Prem Kumar, BJP women cell president Anamika Singh and Khagaul Ram Navami Shobha Yatra committee convener Asutosh Shrivastava for violation of model code of conduct.

SHO of Khagaul police station Srihari Ojha said the FIR was lodged by Danapur circle officer Mahendra Prasad Gupta under Loudspeakers Act, Representation of Peoples Act and Section 144 of CrPC. The minister and others have also been charged with using sword and lathi during Ram Navami procession on Saturday.

Patna district magistrate-cum-district electoral officer Kumar Ravi said the administration has received information that the gathering was organised without permission and political speeches were delivered in violation of the model code of conduct. “The organisers had obtained permission only for taking out religious precession,” the DM said.

However, Anamika, who is also a member of the ‘shobha yatra’ committee, said no political speech was delivered from the stage. “Bhaiyya (Prem Kumar) was asked by the media for a comment on election when he was about to sit in his car. He gave reporters a simple byte which cannot be termed a political speech,” she said.

FIR against Araria BJP nominee: An FIR was lodged against BJP’s Araria candidate Pradeep Singh after a video clip showing his “objectionable” conversation with his supporters went viral on the social media. Araria model code of conduct nodal officer Pankaj Kumar Gupta said Pradeep’s conversation was sensitive in nature.