The Election Commission last week shot down a proposal by Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to introduce more than 30 local trains on various routes in and around Mumbai.

After announcement of election dates and enforcement of the model code of conduct in the state, various government proposals and announcements are routinely sent to the Election Commission for its clearance.

Sources in the EC said that the railway ministry was asked to wait till voting in the state got over on October 13. The model code in an election-bound state is in place till the counting is over (votes for elections in three states would be counted on October 22). The Mumbai Suburban Rail Network is considered to be city’s lifeline, and the move to introduce new trains on election eve could have been used to shore up the electoral fortunes of the ruling Congress-NCP combine in the state, felt the EC.

The EC, meanwhile, on Saturday issued an advisory to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, asking him to be “careful” while issuing advertisements during election time. Pawar had issued an advertisement in some papers on the prevailing drought situation in the country, and one particular advertisement in a Marathi paper earned him the EC notice.

After Pawar’s reply was found to be “unsatisfactory”, the secretary in the ministry was summoned on Friday, followed by another official in the same department. Pawar’s contention was that “subject matter for the advertisement had been cleared by the Election Commission”. The poll panel countered that the material for the said advertisement, cleared by the poll panel, was in English, but the title of one particular advertisement, was in Marathi. Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party is one of the main players in Maharashtra.

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