BJP MLA tells voters Modi watching them on CCTVs

Ahmedabad, April 16 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Central Gujarat's Fatepura constituency Ramesh Katara has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is watching every polling booth through closed-circuit television network.

In an election meeting, Katara asserted" "This time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fitted CCTV cameras in every polling booth to watch who votes for BJP and who votes for Congress."

Campaigning for BJP candidate and sitting MP Jashwantsinh Bhabhor in the Scheduled Tribe seat of Dahod, Katara added: "He (Modi) would watch sitting in Delhi and if BJP gets less votes from a particular booth, the area will get less government grants."

A video of the election meeting has been making rounds on the social media.

Bhabhor is pitted against Congress's Babu Katara, who has been a Lok Sabha member twice from the BJP. Katara joined the Congress in 2017 when his son became an MLA from the party.

When contacted, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Manish Doshi said his party would file a complaint with the Election Commission against Katara.

"We hope the Election Commission takes impartial action against the BJP MLA and ensure free and fair elections are held in Gujarat," Doshi said.

On April 6, BJP's Waghodia MLA Madhu Srivastava had threatened the voters with "dire consequences" if they did not vote for the BJP.

The Congress had then filed a complaint with the poll panel, which subsequently issued show-cause notice to Srivastava. He was campaigning for BJP candidate and sitting Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt.

The voting on all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on April 23.