PATNA: Leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has slammed the Election Commission (EC) for banning West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours.
Describing the EC’s order as “undemocratic”, Tejashwi said it seemed that the poll panel was working under pressure from the NDA government at the Centre. “The poll panel is not discharging its duty in right earnest. It is functioning like the media cell of the BJP,” Tejashwi told reporters here after returning from New Delhi on Monday.
The EC had banned Mamata from campaigning on the ground that she had violated the provisions of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Indian Penal Code by making highly insinuating and provocative remarks laden with serious potential of breakdown of law and order and thereby adversely affecting the poll process.
Tejashwi is scheduled to campaign for Mamata’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the constituencies having a large chunk of population from Bihar. He had earlier met Mamata in Kolkata on March 1. The RJD has given unconditional support to the TMC in West Bengal despite having an alliance with Congress in Bihar.