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UP govt pulled up for poll sops

The Election Commission has taken a serious view of the poll sops announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh.

The Commission has asked the state chief secretary to explain why schemes worth millions of rupees were announced less than a week before the December 29 legislative council elections.

Stating that the announcement violates the Model Code of Conduct, the Commission said it denies a level playing field for the contestants.

The Commission asked the chief secretary to send a complete and comprehensive report on the issue immediately.

''The Commission is concerned that such a decision has been taken when the process for election to the legislative council from 39 local authority seats is in progress and the campaign for the same is on,'' the Commission said.

On Wednesday, the state government unveiled several schemes for the rural and urban local bodies.

Promising the local bodies an 11 per cent share in the state revenue, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had said it was a major step for the devolution of power to the panchayats.

Asked if the decision was not intended to influence the local bodies elections and the coming Lok Sabha polls, Kalyan Singh retorted, ''Should we stop all development work? Should we keep the government in suspended animation?''

Disclosing that a total of 60,000 rural bodies and 683 urban bodies would benefit from the decision, the chief minister said he had to do his job and, if anybody was opposed to it, he should go to court.

UNI

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