Mahayuti leaders Ajit Pawar, Chandrakant Patil, Mangesh Chavan get clean chit in poll code violation complaint

The returning officer of Baramati Lok Sabha constituency has filed a report stating that there was no prima facie evidence of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Chandrakant Patil violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) through “funds for votes” and “treasury” remarks. The election officials also disposed of complaint against BJP MLA Mangesh Chavan of Chalisgaon.

“There was no prima facie evidence found against the three leaders,” said district election officer Suhas Diwase on Friday.

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) had filed a complaint against Ajit Pawar, Chandrakant Patil and Mangesh Chavan with the Election Commission of India alleging the violation of the poll code and the Representation of the People Act.

Diwase said, “The report has been submitted to the chief election officer two days ago.”

At a poll rally at Indapur in Baramati constituency, Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, had recently said, “As far as funds are concerned, we will cooperate to give you as much as you want, but at the same time, the EVM button needs to be pressed in abundance. If the EVM button is pressed in abundance, I will also feel good allocating funds, or else, I will have to restrict myself.”

Kavita Dwivedi, returning officer of Baramati, said they launched a probe after receiving the complaints in Ajit Pawar and Chandrakant Patil’s case and found there was no violation of code of conduct.

Dwivedi confirmed that she has submitted a report to the chief election officer stating that she had gone through the video of Ajit’s speech. The remarks in the video do not mention the name of a particular candidate for whom votes have been sought. He is heard saying that press the buttons of our machine so that he can allocate the funds. Here the word machine is universal, and he is not talking about a particular candidate or his candidate or party.

In Patil’s case, the video was taken off the social media.

“We have also disposed of Chandrakant Patil’s case since there was nothing to point towards Model Code of Conduct violation,” said Dwivedi.

The remarks by these leaders had drawn criticism from the Opposition

Chandrakant Patil while campaigning for Sunetra Pawar in Purandar on April 11 allegedly said, “Don’t forget Ajit Pawar is the state finance minister. Being the minister, Ajit Pawar has the key of the vault and chief minister Shinde who is a Mahayuti leader has the vault. People should remember that the vault and key both belong to us and we will fulfil our commitments towards the voters.”

Chavan while campaigning for the Mahayuti candidate, Smita Wagh, contesting from the Jalgaon Lok Sabha (LS) seat, on April 16 had said, “The vault is with us and the voter should vote for us and we won’t give less. The chief minister, Eknath Shinde, is of our faction who has control of the vault.”

Ajit’s wife Sunetra, an NCP candidate, is locked in a high-profile electoral battle in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency with her sister-in-law and sitting MP Supriya Sule. Sharad Pawar’s daughter Sule has been nominated by the NCP (SCP). Baramati will go to polls in the third phase of the general elections on May 7.

While NCP is a part of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which comprises the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra; NCP (SCP) belongs to the Opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi. The Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) are the other constituents of MVA.