BHOPAL: The left parties have demanded that the Election Commission of India ensure that government employees linked with ruling BJP's parent outfit Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) are not allowed to be part of the poll process in the coming assembly elections in the saffron party-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
Representatives of both, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) made representations in this regard to the ECI team led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) OP Rawat, which took stock of poll preparedness in the central Indian state's capital Bhopal on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the representation made to the CEC, the CPI leaders Shailendra Kumar Shaili, Roopsingh Chauhan and Satyam Pandey submitted that the MP government has permitted its employees to participate in RSS activities.
As the RSS is the parent outfit of the ruling BJP, hence if government employees linked to the RSS are allowed to be part of the poll process, it could influence the process at any level.
The CPI (PM) also demanded that government employees participating in the RSS activities be not deployed in poll-related duties.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also backed the demand of the left parties.
On Wednesday the CEC OP Rawat, while talking to journalists in Bhopal, confirmed having received the representations in this regards from some political parties.
"We'll look into the issue," said Rawat.
Also, when queried about the misuse of government money in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's ongoing statewide Jan Ashirwad Yatra and some officials posting on social media the pictures of their participation in the ruling party's political yatra, the CEC said: "we'll look into the issue in case of any specific complaints."
The CEC maintained that "all government officials and employees should work with neutrality in poll process. All government officials are on the ECI radar and anyone found working in a partisan manner will be dealt with sternly by the Commission."