New Delhi, Nov 19: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded derecognition of the Congress by the election commission for ''blatant misuse of government machinery by it in the states going to polls.'' Chairman of the BJP's election campaign committee Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters here that notice issued by the Election Commission for the gross violation of model code of conduct by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi by using the plane and helicopter of the state government ten times has exposed the party's involvement in electoral corruption.
Recognition to the Congress should be withdrawn for the violation of the model code of conduct, he demanded.
Earlier also, the EC had taken exception to violation of code of conduct and had to intervene to put a check on the scam of distribution of school bags with Jogi's photograph on them. Many district collectors and high police officials had to be removed by the EC with the help of the Governor of Chhatisgarh because they were working as Congress party workers, he said.
Similarly, many such officers were ordered to be transferred for acting as agents of the congress and bungling in the preparation of the voters list, he pointed out and said that such misuse of power was not new for the congress as several past prime ministers and other leaders belonging to that party still owed crores of rupees to the government for use of its planes. He demanded immediate legal action to recover the dues.
Malhotra also demanded immediate dismissal and arrest of Ajit Jogi for misuse of power and forgery of his certificates. He said that without any FIR or complaint Judev resigned and a CBI probe had been ordered into the incident but the congress has taken no action against Jogi against whom the CBI has filed a chargesheet in a forgery case and court case was on.
''The duality of the conduct of the Congress in the Judev case is evident. The Congress is synonymous with corruption while the BJP has zero tolerance for it. Otherwise, Sonia Gandhi should immediately withdraw Jogi's candidature who has been clinging to the power despite being chargesheeted by the CBI in the certificate forgery case,'' he said.
The BJP leader demanded immediate dismissal of the Congress government in Maharashtra and Karnataka over the Rs 30 crore stamp scam and their persistent refusal to order a CBI probe into it.
Bureau Report