PMC polls: Poll panel notice for Ajit Pawar, others

The state election commission (SEC) has taken serious note of the ground-breaking ceremony carried out by deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, in Pune on Tuesday night after
the model code of conduct came into force in the afternoon that day.

The commission has sent a notice to Pawar seeking an explanation.

The Shiv Sena strongly objected to the ceremony and submitted a written complaint alleging that the ceremony was carried out after the code came into force in violation of the rules. The notice was sent to Pawar on the basis of that complaint.

When DNA contacted the SEC, Neela Satyanarayan, she said, “A notice has been sent to the deputy chief minister on the report of the municipal commissioner.” In reply to a question, she said no time period has been fixed for replying to the notice.

The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) code of conduct cell has also sent notices to MLC Anil Bhosale, PMC mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, additional city engineer Vivek Kharwadkar and municipal secretary Sunil Parkhi.

Rajpal told mediapersons, “I have received the notice and will reply to it. However, there is no specific time period in which I have to send the reply.”

Kharwadkar and Parkhi have sent their replies to the Pune municipal commissioner. The municipal authorities have taken the stand that they had stopped the work of the ceremony once the code of conduct came into force and none of the PMC officials were present at the event.