By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Chief Electoral Officer P Naik on Tuesday said that the recent slur against Ampareen Lyngdoh for distributing money to people is not a violation of the model code of conduct.
Talking to media persons here, Naik said that the cheque was issued on January 7 while the code of conduct came into force on January 11.
“It’s not an issue of violation of code of conduct,” he said here.
Earlier on Monday, a group of residents of Malki had accused the MLA of giving a cheque of Rs 15,000 dated January 7 to the parents of a girl student who wished to pursue engineering at Don Bosco University, Guwahati.
Alleging use of money power, the complainants, who claimed to be residents of Malki, said they have decided to file a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) against Lyngdoh for allegedly trying to woo voters by using ‘money-power’.
However, Naik said that if it was a private issue, the concerned complainant could have filed a case against the MLA with the police before going to media.
“Why did the concerned person keep quiet for such a long time about the alleged use of
money power,” Naik questioned.
Earlier, Ampareen denied the allegations stating that the complainant, Rajesh Modi had approached her for assistance for his daughter’s education. “This is a last ditch ploy by my opponent to discredit me, ” she said.
Reacting to a query about the huge sums of money which have been seized in the recent past, a visibly annoyed Naik said that there are more takers of money than givers.
“Even the takers are equally culpable,” he said while adding the election department is trying its best to detect any use of money power in the ensuing elections.