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Modi flouts rules

Indian EC orders filing complaint against him for seeking votes outside a polling booth

Our Correspondent, New Delhi
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi caused controversy yesterday after casting his vote in Gandhinagar city of Gujarat and soon he received accusation of violating electoral laws from Congress and the Election Commission.
Indian EC ordered filing an FIR
or a complaint against Modi as BJP's archrival Congress drew its attention to his violation of the Representation of People Act, 1951 by showing his party's "Lotus" symbol and making a speech when the seventh phase of the parliamentary elections was ongoing.
"The Commission directs...that complaint/ FIR as the case may be, should be filed against Narendra Modi and all others who were involved in the convening and holding of the said meeting," the EC said in an order.
In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said Modi had not violated the election code since it was not an organised press conference.
She, however, added that, "The Election Commission is a constitutional institution and we respect it. We will abide by its decision."
Asked about the EC's directive on the Gujarat government to file an FIR against Modi, she said, "We will address the issue".
The electoral fate of Modi and
other top guns of Indian politics like ruling Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was decided by 50 to 60 percent of nearly 14 crore voters, who exercised their franchise yesterday.
The round seven of the nine-phased national elections covered 89 parliamentary seats spread across seven states and two federally administered territories.
With this, polling drew to a close in 438 of the total 543 parliamentary seats and the remaining 105 seats will go to polls in the final two phases to be held on May 7 and May 12. Countingof the votes is scheduled for May 16. The latest phase saw riveting contests involving some big-wigs of the two sides, including Modi in Vadodara constituency in his home state of Gujarat, Sonia in Rae Bareli constituency in her home state of Uttar Pradesh, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley in Amritsar in Punjab state and his party chief Rajnath Singh in Uttar Pradesh state's capital city Lucknow.
All eyes were glued to the voting for the 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat where Modi is not only making his debut in national elections but is also looking for a clean sweep in order to bolster his chances of becoming prime minister. His win against Madhusudan Mistry, the Congress nominee in Vadodara seat, does not appear to be in any doubt.
Modi, who has been leading BJP successfully in state legislature elections at a stretch since 1998, is also contesting another parliamentary seat in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
The next key battleground was the northern state of Punjab, where BJP and its ruling ally Shiromani Akali Dal faces a strong anti-incumbency, whose benefit may go to Congress and upstart anti-graft outfit Aam Aadmi Party founded by Arvind Kejriwal. In the previous parliamentary polls, Congress won eight seats.
The 14 seats that went to poll in Uttar Pradesh yesterday were crucial for Congress, BJP, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Congress had good returns from these seats in 2009 winning six, followed by SP four, BSP three and BJP one. BJP this time banked on Modi's popularity to see a reverse trend while BSP led by Mayawati is relying on its core Dalit-Muslim vote bank. In most of her election rallies, Mayawati spoke about issues relating to socially backward castes and sought to attract Muslims by attacking Modi.
Congress may not this time find it easy to retain its 2009 success in Uttar Pradesh but Sonia Gandhi is not expected to face much problem to win Rae Bareli seat for a third consecutive time.