TMC accuses GJM for persuading people to attend Sukna meet

Deep Gazmer, EOI, Darjeeling, 30 Mar 2014: The Trinamool Congress has accused Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for allegedly persuading and bribing people of the hills to attend the party meeting in Sukna today.

The hill TMC leaders also accused the GJM-BJP alliance of exhausting the Rs.70 lakh ceiling permitted by the Election Commission of India for a single candidate to campaign for the general election. .

Binny Sharma, the TMC (Hills) spokesperson said, “We have proof that the people who attended the GJM-BJP public meeting were threatened and even bribed for their presence. The GJM distributed Rs500 each to attend today’s meeting in Sukna. We know this because several of our supporters were also present in the public meeting today”.

The TMC will write to the ECI pointing out the expenditure incurred by the GJM party for its public meeting today, Sharma informed.  “There were about twenty thousand people in GJM’s meeting at Sukna. Around two thousand vehicles were required at a cost of Rs.3000 each to ferry people. This along with Rs.3 lakh for pandal construction and public address system adds up to Rs.60 lakh, while GJM has also been holding several campaign programs in various places, which exceeds the ECI ceiling of Rs.70 lakh per candidate,” explained Sharma.

As per the ECI ceiling for the 2014 LS election, a candidate contesting the LS election this time will be able to spend Rs.70 lakh for campaign purpose. In the previous election the candidates were allowed to spend only Rs.40 lakh.

When contacted for comments, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, "All the allegations are false and baseless with the intention to malign our party and candidate. We have neither threatened nor bribed people to attend our meeting today. People have come of their own and will continue to do so in all our future programs”.