Is EC Waiting For PM’s Travel Programme to End? Ahmed Patel to Poll Body on Election Dates

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Monday raised questions on the Election Commission not announcing dates for the Lok Sabha election and asked whether it was waiting for the Prime Minister's "official" travel programme "to conclude".

He further accused the poll body of giving a long rope to the government to campaign at the cost of the state exchequer.

"Is the Election Commission waiting for the Prime Minister's official travel programs to conclude before announcing dates for general elections (sic).

"Using government functions as an excuse for political rallies, flooding TV/radio and print with political ads. It is seems that EC is giving the government a long rope to campaign till the last moment using public money," he tweeted.

PM Modi has been making a quick dash to states, conducting election rallies as well as government functions.

On Sunday, PM Modi, during a visit to Congress stronghold Amethi, announced that AK-203, a latest derivative of the legendary AK-47 assault rifle, will be manufactured there. The PM said it would boost the development of the town.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to Gujarat from Monday during which he will launch the Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PM-SYM) and inaugurate the first phase of 6-km-long Ahmedabad Metro service.

The prime minister will also go to Vastral in the state to launch PM-SYM, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000. He will oversee the online transfer of benefits to some beneficiaries and then distribute PM-SYM Pension Cards.

The scheme, announced in the Union Budget in February this year, will see each PM-SYM subscriber get a minimum assured pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.

In 2014, the dates for the Lok Sabha polls were announced in the first week of March.

Last week, while in Uttar Pradesh capital to review poll preparations in the state, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the general elections in the country will be held on time.