No election duty for official who ‘touched’ Modi’s feet

GANDHINAGAR: Bharat Vaishnav, Under Secretary in the office of Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer, has been transferred on the instruction of Election Commission after the state Congress lodged a complaint annexing a file photo that showed him touching Chief Minister Narendra Modi's feet.

Vaishnav has been relieved from election duty and a new posting will be allocated to him shortly.

The Congress had raised questions over Vaishnav's credentials. However, the commission took note that the photo was one-and-a-half-year old when a group of under secretaries met the CM after their promotions.

BJP 'buying' its councillors in Junagadh, Cong tells poll officials

RAJKOT: Deputy mayor of Junagadh Girish Kotecha Thursday filed a complaint with poll officials against BJP leaders Vijay Rupani and Kadar Salot, accusing them of violating the code of conduct and bribing two Congress councillors who had joined BJP a few days ago.

Councillors Shehnaz Qureshi and Abdul Razak of the Congress had joined the BJP on November 5.

Kotecha has also accused BJP of trying to bribe other councillors to capture the Congress-ruled Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC). Junagadh district collector and election officer Manish Bhardwaj said, "Based on plea from Kotecha, a report has been sought from the returning officer concerned. Further action will be based on the report."

Seven Congress councillors, most of them Muslims, have been upset for some time now over alleged discrimination against them by the Congress.

Modi to kick off campaign on Nov 18

GANDHINAGAR: Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to kick off the next leg of his election campaign on November 18, the auspicious day of Labh Pancham. A senior BJP leader close to Modi said,"The state BJP has organised a three-day Sneh Milan in all the 182 constituencies in which party workers and leaders at all levels will participate. Modi's poll campaign plan is yet not finalised but he is likely to kick off his second campaign on November 18."

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