Navy veteran writes to EC against Narendra Modi hoarding at Peddar Road

Narendra Modi. Pic/ PTI

After the prime minister's use of defence forces for his election campaigning was critiqued by the opposition and a group of retired defence personnel, a Navy veteran has now filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the same.

The veteran has attached a picture of a BJP hoarding in Mumbai which displays Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture along with a message 'Dushman ke ghar main ghuskar attankiyon par prahaar'. [Attack on terrorists by entering into enemy territory.

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Open letter to the ECI

On April 11, Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra, a 1971 war veteran, wrote an open letter to the ECI pointing to the repeated directions issued by it political parties desisting them from using the activities of the Indian Armed Forces (related to national security) to "gain votes".

The hoarding picture was clicked by Batra on April 9 at Pedder Road in Mumbai. He has said that similar hoardings have come up in other towns too.

'Misleading messages'

"Such hoardings send extremely misleading messages that recent activities were forced on the Indian Armed Forces to gain votes and is construed as a violation of the model code of conduct. May I request the Hon'ble ECI to take appropriate actions," Batra has written.

Eight former service chiefs and 148 other military veterans too last week wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind expressing outrage at political parties using armed forces for political purposes.

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) Violations Report of April 17 on the ECI website shows the status of Batra's complaint as 'Initial Scrutiny and Special Comment-Under process.'

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