Allahabad: Congress on Sunday filed a complaint with the Election Commission for alleged nonobservance of protocol by the district administration during Union Minister Kapil Sibal`s visit here.
The local unit of the party also charged the district
administration with trying to disrupt visits of top Congress
leaders and intimidating party workers at the instance of the
Mayawati government.
In the complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner and
the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, party election
coordinator for Allahabad Abhay Awasthi alleged that not even
a single police personnel was deployed for Sibal, who arrived
here yesterday and left this afternoon.
Awasthi further alleged that while Sibal was addressing a
press conference at a hotel in the city, the inspector
in-charge of Civil Lines police station stormed into the hotel
along with a police team and began abusing the owner for
allowing the press conference without obtaining permission
from the administration.
He said a press conference cannot be equated with a
public meeting so a prior permission from the local
administration was not required.
"The poll panel is requested to issue clear instructions
in this regard," he said in the complaint.
"The entire episode marks an unprecedented instance of
the district administration, at the behest of the state
government, trying to disrupt visits of top Congress leaders
and intimidating party workers," he said.
He appealed to the EC to order an inquiry into the
incident by an independent agency.
PTI
