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