New Delhi, October 26
It’s a double blow for the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and his colleagues. First, they failed to get the poll dates shifted, and now the Election Commission has termed the use of helicopter for the purpose as violation of model code of conduct and sought the recovery of the expenditure from them.
Ruling that the visit of the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues along with CWC member R.K.Dhawan to the Commission on October15 as “political in nature”, the poll panel today directed the state chief secretary that the state government should not pay for the expenditure for the use of the helicopter.
The EC observerd that the “visit was of political
nature. Therefore, the state government should not defray the expenditure for the use of helicopter nor meet the said expenditure from the departmental funds, but recover the same from the user/users for the use of state helicopter in violation of Model Code of Conduct”.
The three general and three expenditure observers for the three assembly segments of Kinnaur, Bharmour and Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh will reach the assembly constituencies on October 27, which is the last date for filing of nominations, sources said.
Polling for the three assembly segments will take place on November 14. The poll panel had advanced the election to the 68-member assembly in the hill state, as there had been demand that these three assembly segments should also go to the polls simultaneously with the rest of the state.
The Commission had fixed polling for these three segments, a day before the passes to these areas are officially closed in view of winter and snowfall.
Following the announcement of the poll schedule, the Congress party had petitioned the poll panel to reconsider its decision, as the term of the assembly expires only on March 9. However, the Commission said the poll announcement was totally in accordance with the law and “after the notification of a new House the old one ceases to exist”.
The election code of conduct would be in force up to December 31 till the election process is over.
