Team Herald
PANJIM: Congress has accused the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for not acting against the BJP-led coalition over election code violation as the government has been given a clean chit over the appointment of two deputy chief ministers during the Model Code of conduct (MCC).
“The CEO is not acting on complaint(s) against the BJP-led coalition. Moreover, instead of informing the party regarding its decision on our complaint over two Dy CMs appointment, he (CEO Kunal) made a statement to the media,” said party spokesperson Advocate Rohit Bras De Sa on Friday.
The CEO, on Thursday had said that the appointment of Dy CMs was legitimate and has not violated provisions of the MCC. “The appointment is legitimate and hence no action is required. Governor issued order exercising her constitutional power,” Kunal said. The complaint filed by Congress’s Trajano D’Mello was thus dropped.
Congress also raised objection to not acting upon 15 other complaints on the violation of election code within the stipulated time. “We have filed as many as 16 complaints with the CEO of which decision only on one complaint is made till date. As per the guidelines of the ECI, decision on a complaint should be made within 48 hours but it is not happening in our case,” D’Mello said.
On March 20, Governor issued order appointing MGP MLA Sudin Dhavalikar and GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai as Dy CMs. Later, Dhavalikar was dropped from cabinet and replaced by Manohar Ajgaonkar as Dy CM.
