Kids in campaign: Plaint against BJP, Cong

The Election Commission's flying squad has filed police complaints against Congress and BJP in Bangalore Central and South constituencies for using minor children in their election campaigning, rallies and road shows on Saturday and Monday.

Raghavendra C R, member of the flying squad of MCC told DH that, according to the MCC rules, children below the age of 14 years should not be employed for campaign work. He said they noticed BJP party members employing several minor children during the election campaign held on DVG Road on March 30.

The election canvassing, rallies and road shows were video recorded by the flying squad officials. A complaint was lodged with Basavanagudi police on Monday. All the video recording footages were handed over to election commission and police to initiate action, the officer said.

In another case, Raghvendra T, another member of the flying squad, had filed a complaint against Congress members for employing minor children to canvass for the Central MP candidate Rizwan Arshad at Thippasandra.

Jeevan Biima Nagar police booked Lokesh V Nayak, the election campaigning agent working for Rizwan. Raghavendra stated in his complaint that more than 100 party workers had participated in the campaign. They had used several vehicles without seeking permission from the Eelection Commission, burst crackers and used monitors during the campaign.

Police said that, the party worker claimed that the children belonged to party workers and since there was summer vacation, they cannot leave them at home. They were brought along with them but not used for campaigning.