NEW DELHI: The helicopters used by TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi were subjected to checks by election authorities. and sources in the Election Commission said these were routine and everyone has to go through the exercise.
Banerjee’s chopper was searched by income tax (I-T) department officials in Kolkata’s Behala flying club yesterday and Rahul Gandhi’s helicopter was also searched by the authorities under the poll panel on Monday, while he was en route to his parliamentary constituency, Wayanad, in Kerala.
A source in the ECI said, “There is nothing new in search of helicopters, as in case of TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee. In the run-up to the polls, all DMs/SPs were told to keep a strict watch on airfields/helipads by the ECI. Such searches are taking place in airfields, both public and private, across the country to ensure inducements are not ferried by air.”
The ECI, during recent review meeting, had emphasised that there would be multi-pronged surveillance on all modes of transport — check posts and nakas for road transport, Coast Guard for coastal routes and DMs and SPs, alongside agencies, for air routes, including checking of helicopters and non-scheduled flights.
The TMC had alleged that the search on Banerjee was part of a deliberate ploy by the BJP to harass and intimidate opposition candidates whom they cannot take on politically. The party filed a complaint with the ECI alleging “executive overreach and abuse of powers” by the I-T department.
In a post on social media platform X, the TMC said the chopper was undergoing a trial run at Behala Flying Club for Banerjee’s visit to Haldia in Purba Medinipur when a team of I-T officials arrived and extensively searched it.
The TMC also said that the I-T officials couldn’t find anything. The party also alleged that when Banerjee’s security personnel asked the reason for not letting the helicopter fly, they (IT officials) engaged in a verbal spat and threatened to detain the chopper illegally. “They opened each and every bag, searched every nook and corner of the chopper,” the party said.
The flying squad started the search in Gandhi’s chopper after it landed in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris. Last month, the ECI had suspended the head of the flying squad team and replaced the entire team in the district, after lapses were found in the performance of their election duties.