The Election Commission on Friday initiated a probe into the remarks of senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who on Thursday revealed that he had incurred an expense of `8 crore during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, which is way above the prescribed limit of `25 lakhs.
The issue was discussed here in a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and attended by election commissioners H.S. Brahma and Syed Nazim Ahmad Zaidi and it was resolved to secure the CD of the speech. The EC also decided to initiate the next course of action after transcribing the speech.
When asked as to what the commission intends to do over the controversial speech, an EC official said, “Yes, we have come across such reports. The commission is in the process of ascertaining and verifying the facts about it. After verifying the facts, it will take suitable action as appropriate under the law.”
Mr Munde, who is the BJP’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, while participating in a book release function in Mumbai regretted the fact that contesting polls had become a costly affair in India. He said, “I spent `29,000 when I contested my first Assembly poll in 1980. `8 crore were spent for my last (2009 Lok Sabha) election.”
Incidentally, he made the remark in the presence of the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and former BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Reacting to it, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari called on the EC to take cognisance of it. He said, “If Munde has said he has spent `7-8 crores, it would be proper if the EC asks him. It is in the nation’s interest, and the responsibility of the EC.”