Congress urges EC to rein in poll-bound states splurging public money on ads  

The Congress on Sunday urged the Election Commission of India to stop the state governments of Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from splurging huge amounts of public money on self-promotion.

In a written submission to the poll panel, Congress's legal cell head and MP Vivek Tankha has demanded that the EC should ensure the Chief Ministers of these poll bound states do not spend public money on self-promotion or yatras.

"Of late, the people of India are witnessing excessive propensity on the part of the state governments and the Chief Ministers to put in large advertisements in national newspapers at public expense. It is an abhorrent practice and blatant misuse of public funds," the Congress said in the letter.

It asked the EC to issue "peremptory orders" to the Chief Secretary of Telangana to ensure no public money is utilised by the caretaker government on advertisements with pictures of the caretaker Chief Minister till the conclusion of the elections.

The Telanaga government decided to prematurely dissolve the assembly on Friday. Chief Minister K Chandrashekara Rao is running a caretaker government in the state now.

Elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh (all ruled by BJP) and Mizoram are due by the end of this year.