Questing the basis on which State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan gave a “clean chit” to Pawar of the NCP, Raj on Wednesday wondered as to how could the SEC condone the violation of model code of conduct for the February 16 polls to 10 municipal corporations, including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), merely on the basis of a mere “letter of regret”.
“Yesterday, SEC said that she was not pursuing the complaint against Ajitdada for laying a foundation stone for a flyover Pune in violation of model code of conduct, after he regretted his act in his reply to a showcause notice served on him by the Commission. We do not accept the manner in which she has chosen to give a clean chit to Ajitdada,” the MNS chief told mediapersons at Thane.
“Tomorrow, I will commit a poll code violation and later regret my act. Will the SEC condone my act, as it did in the case of Ajitdada?,” Raj asked.
In a related development, State NCP chief Madhukar Pichad took umbrage at Raj’s criticism of SEC and wondered as to the locus standi of the MNS chief to question the authority and functioning of Satyanarayan.
“What is his authority? We don’t take him seriously and do not feel the need to respond to such talk. We have more serious agenda of development work before us,” Pichad said.
In his interaction with media, Pichad took on Raj on two counts: First, the MNS chief’s allegation that the SEC was functioning under the NCP’s pressure after she expressed her inability to hold the counting of votes in the February 7 Zilla Parishad and February 16 municipal corporation polls simultaneously on February 17. Secondly, he made no bones about displeasure over the manner in which Raj had challenged the very authority of SEC by questioning her decision to give a “clean chit” to Ajitdada.
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