A complaint has been lodged with Meghalaya Chief Secretary Ranjan Chatterjee alleging that a ticket aspirant of BJP has violated service rules by joining the party before his retirement from Government service to contest from Laban constituency.

The complaint, filed by H R Das Gupta, was submitted on Monday, stating that Edward Kharwanlang, a Research Officer in the Planning Department, became an active member of the BJP in the first week of October, 2007 and applied for a party ticket to contest from Laban before November 15, 2007. His request for retirement was accepted by the Government on November 30, 2007.

Gupta says this is a gross violation of the service rules (read Rule 5 of Central Civil Services (Conduct Rules) 1964 and Rule 9 ( 5.1) (b) of the Meghalaya Civil Services (Conduct) Rules which clearly states, “No member of the services shall be associated with any political party or take part in politics.”

The complaint alleged that Kharwanlang was openly campaigning by visiting houses along with the Laban BJP legislator even before his VRS was accepted. It further expressed apprehension that if this violation goes unpunished, it might set a dangerous precedent.