Ranchi: With less than a week to go for elections to the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Wednesday accused its ally Congress and the BJP of flouting the model code of conduct (MCC) and urged the state election commission (SEC) to act on the violations.Talking to the media at the party office, JMM central general secretary cum spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “The BJP-backed mayoral candidate (Roshni Khalko) is openly using the party’s symbols beside the symbol allotted to her and is stating that she is a BJP worker. Also, photos of many BJP leaders with party symbol are being openly flaunted. Similarly, Congress candidate (Rama Khalko) is also doing it.”Notably, the election to the post of RMC mayor is not being held on political lines. However, all political parties have backed candidates of their choice. The JMM has announced to back Sujit Vijay Anand Kujur.“I appeal the SEC to take cognizance of the violations,” he said. Stating that JMM had been exercising restraint so far, Bhattacharya said, “But finally, I (we) chose to sit before our party flags and symbol to address you on civic body polls.”He also appealed the business class and people at large to rise above and vote for the best candidate in the interest of a better state capital (Ranchi).“A delegation of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) too had recently accompanied CM Hemant Soren during his visit to Davos at World economic Forum. It shows that our govt is working to take everyone along. In election too, people should come forward in the interest of the city,” he said.The Congress, however, rejected JMM’s claims. “We don’t think that the photos of Congress leaders are being used by the mayor candidate backed by our party. The claims are not true,” party spokesperson Rakesh Sinha, said.BJP, on the other hand accused JMM of violating MCC by addressing media from party office and approached the SEC to register a complaint in the evening. “The way he (Bhattacharya) used party’s election symbol today is a violation of MCC,” read the memorandum submitted by a BJP delegation, comprising Sudhir Srivastava and Ashok Baraik, to the SEC.
