Congress working president Hardik Patel on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was misusing government officers and police to “harass people” as it has realised that popular support is with the Congress this election.
Addressing a press conference in Rajkot, Hardik claimed that election officers, at the behest of the BJP, were not acting fairly. “In Rajkot, our city unit president Ashok Dangar went to file nomination papers 15 minutes before deadline but election officials, under pressure from BJP leaders, refused to accept them saying the time was over. Similar thing happened in Palitana and the Gujarat High Court had to intervene. Even today, the High Court has given a similar verdict for Botad district panchayat and has observed that officials of the State Election Commission are required behave impartially,” said Patel.