MARGAO: The Congress party filed a complaint on Friday with the National Election Observer and District Election Officer, demanding action against the government for denying permission to use Lohia Maidan in Margao for election campaign meetings.
Congress leader and former MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho confirmed that the complaint was submitted to Sergun Shukla, National Election Observer, and Asvin Chandru, District Election Officer, in Margao.
In the representation, the Indian National Congress accused the ruling government, through the Margao Municipal Council, of unfair practices by arbitrarily denying permission to use Lohia Maidan.
The denial, allegedly aimed at preventing the Congress party from holding its final election campaign meeting scheduled for May 4, was condemned.
Coutinho highlighted the delay in processing the Congress’ request, which was submitted on March 19, but was not addressed until April 22. In contrast, a request from another organisation, submitted on March 22 for an event on April 9, was promptly processed and approved on April 1.
He pointed out that the Margao Municipal Council maintains a common file for permission requests for Lohia Maidan, and that it is expected that requests will be processed in order, based on submission dates.
The Congress urged for an inquiry to verify the reasons for denial and to determine when the alleged technical fault with the electricity supply at Lohia Maidan was certified by the Electricity Department.
The Congress Party demanded that the Margao Municipal Council be directed to permit the election campaign meeting at Lohia Maidan on May 4.
Congress files complaint against Modi, Goa CM for spreading misinformation
PANJIM: Congress party on Friday filed a complaint before Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ramesh Verma against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and several others for spreading misinformation, and demanded immediate action.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar along with other party functionaries submitted a three-page written complaint to the CEO at Altinho.
In his complaint, Patkar stated that the South Goa Congress candidate Capt Viriato Fernandes is a war veteran who has served during the Kargil War.
He alleged that the speech of Capt Viriato Fernandes was twisted and misinterpreted to suggest that he disrespected the Constitution of India.
"Our candidate is a war veteran who served during Kargil war and obviously has the highest respect for the Constitution. The speech of our candidate is sought to be twisted and read out of context, without even attempting to understand the context in which it has made," Patkar said.
"It is pertinent to note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also party to spreading misinformation. PM Modi in his speech in Chattisgarh, in the context of speech of Capt Viriato Fernandes, maliciously projected as if the speech of our candidate was to disrespect the Constitution of India," Patkar said.
The GPCC president claimed that there is violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and demanded action against PM Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Panchayats Minister Mauvin Godinho, BJP MLAs Sankalp Amonkar and Krishna 'Daji' Salkar and BJP State general secretary Damodar Naik