Election Commission officials checked Rahul Gandhi’s bag as he arrived for campaigning in Maharashtra’s Amravati for the Assembly election. The event took place during a political dispute between BJP and opposition parties, who alleged that the poll body was unfairly targeting leaders of the INDIA bloc.
A video capturing officials inspecting Rahul Gandhi’s helicopter on the ground with the Congress leader standing close by. During the bag check’s continuation, Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, moved away and was observed interacting with party leaders.
The bag of the Congress leader was inspected the day after the party filed a complaint with the Election Commission about his helicopter being allegedly grounded in Jharkhand. Congress requested the election commission’s immediate involvement in guaranteeing fair competition in campaign activities.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that Gandhi’s helicopter was unable to depart because of limitations, resulting in his public events being postponed or called off.
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The scrutiny of bags owned by high-ranking politicians caused a stir when Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray posted a video, raising doubts about whether Prime Minister Modi and BJP leaders would undergo similar checks. In reply, BJP officials justified the decision as a standard procedure to guarantee elections are carried out fairly and freely.
Recently, the BJP posted videos of the Election Commission checking the bags of NDA leaders like Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar, and more, in response to the opposition’s accusations of bias.
