Amarinder complains about Modi politicising Balakot

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission of India (EC) seeking action against PM Narendra Modi, for citing the martyrdom of security personnel in Pulwama in his election speech in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

Singh maintained that the speech was as a clear violation of the model code of conduct. He termed the development as "shockingly disgraceful" and a failure to check such instances suggested a bias on the part of the EC, he alleged.

In his letter to CEC Sunil Arora, Amarinder protested against the PM using the success of the Balakot air strikes by the IAF and the sacrifice of the martyrs of the Pulwama attacks to woo first-time voters.

“That a person of the PM’s stature should indulge in such shameful acts makes a mockery of the democratic process and undermines the independence of the Election Commission as well as the armed forces”, he wrote.

The PM, he alleged, has been allowed to continuously and brazenly resort to such gimmickry to woo voters, which raises suspicions of bias on the part of the EC.

The EC, he said, had asked political parties not to use photographs of defence personnel in their campaign. Capt said, the Armed Forces are guardians of a nation’s frontiers and are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a modern democracy. “It is necessary that political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the armed forces in their campaigns”.

In his communique, the CM urged the CEC to urgently intervene to put an immediate end to "gross violations of the code of conduct by the ruling party and its leaders."