BJP bribing voters with free gifts: Divya Spandana

Congress social media chief Divya Spandana (Ramya) on Thursday shot off a letter to the Election Commission accusing the BJP of bribing voters by offering them free gifts in exchange of votes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“It has come to our notice via the media that the Bharatiya Janata Party via the Facebook page “My First Vote for Modi” is enticing voters to vote for Modi with free gifts such as badges, bags, T-shirts, phone covers, caps, etc. These 'gifts' are also available for sale on the site merchandise.narendramodi.in,” Divya Spandana said in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.

She demanded that the Facebook page and the network of websites that support it be taken down immediately and all associated costs and expenditure incurred so far, including advertising, cost of merchandise, cost of operations, salaries, and emoluments of the staff running the page and the site, be added to Prime Minister Modi's personal campaign costs.

“The longer this practice continues, the more the electorate is likely to be unduly influenced,” the former Lok Sabha member said.