NPP moves EC against Mukul
TURA: The National Peoples’ Party (NPP) has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission accusing Congress of violating the model code of conduct by misusing a public transport helicopter meant for the people solely for election purposes by Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma.
Dr Sangma has reportedly booked the daily Pawan Hans Daupin N3 helicopter for election campaign for seven days beginning March 25 up to April 1.
The Pawan Hans helicopter makes two trips between Shillong and Guwahati and one trip to Tura almost every day, barring Sunday, ferrying passengers from one end of the state to the other.
Interestingly, Pawan Hans had cleared the use of the chartered helicopter by Congress for only two days- March 25 and 26th for which the party had paid a sum of Rs. 50 Lakh to the company.
A copy of the receipt and the chopper itinerary submitted to the Returning Officer in Tura by the NPP has been obtained by The Shillong Times.
According to it, the Chief Minister has booked the chopper for March 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30th (6 days) and again on April 1.District party president of the NPP, Semford B Sangma, lodged the official complaint before Returning Officer for Tura Lok Sabha Constituency seeking action against the Chief Minister for the alleged model code violation.
“Using of the only Pawan Hans helicopter (which) is deployed for public transport by Meghalaya government and being managed by Meghalaya Transport Corporation, solely for election purposes ferrying the chief minister to different meeting venues in Garo Hills districts amounts to abuse of power and misuse of govt facilities for election campaign,” informed NPP district chief Semford B Sangma in his complaint to the Election Commission.
He added that the move deprives the common man of the public transport system of the government which in itself is model code of conduct violation.
The NPP has submitted before the Returning Officer documents connected to the use of the chopper service by the Congress.
On a single day the Chief Minister is utilising the services of the Pawan Hans helicopter for lift off to five different election campaigns.
Since March 27th the chopper has travelled from Rondupara in Phulbari region of the plain belt all the way to Adokgre and Rongjeng in North and East Garo Hills districts. The NPP has stated that the use of the Pawan Hans helicopter by the Congress is a violation of election rules because the same chopper has been deployed by the Meghalaya government and managed by the Meghalaya Transport Corporation to ferry passengers to three important locations- Guwahati, Shillong and Tura.
On April 1, Dr Sangma leaves by chopper from Tura to Raja A’pal. From there he takes off again to Chisim A’pal before touching down at A’chotchong. The chopper then takes off with the chief minister for the plain belt region of Bolarbitha before arriving at Garobadha for a public meeting from where Dr Sangma will leave for Tura by road.