Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: On the eve of Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections Phase-1, incumbent chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel has questioned why the Election Commission has not taken cognizance of the allegations against him in the illegal Mahadev Betting App case.
On Monday, one Shubham Soni, claiming to be the owner of the illegal Mahadev Betting app, in a video, said that he paid ₹508 crore to politicians in Chhattisgarh. Notably, the video weas released on Monday by opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on a day ahead of elections.
This however, questions the credibility of the video.
Bhupesh Baghel was accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after a courier alleged that ₹508 crores were delivered to Baghel from the promoters of Mahadev app. Although, ED also mentioned that the matter and claims were under investigation.
No claim made were confirmed by the probe agency.
CM Baghel accused the opposition party of attempting to tarnish his image ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in the state. “When there was an Election Commission meeting, the ED (Enforcement Directorate), IT (Income Tax) were present in it. Why has the Election Commission not taken cognizance of this? The media is reporting such a grave allegation. So the Election Commission should have taken suo motu cognizance of this,” Baghel said speaking at a press conference on Monday.
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Bhupesh Baghel said that his party will send a complaint to the Election Commission for tarnishing his image ahead of the polls.
“A complaint will be sent from us. Investigation should be done for tarnishing someone’s image. There are clear directions in the guidelines of the Election Commission that findings of such investigation should not be used by any political party. That is being openly flouted. They (Election Commission) should look into this,” he said.
On being asked when the Congress will file a complaint to the poll body, Baghel said, “It will be done today.”
Baghel said that an investigation into the Mahadev app has been going on for the last two years and these should be investigated and stopped.
“Investigation of this has been going on for two years. They stopped an app that is not in Playstore on the Indian server…These should be investigated and such groups should be stopped. They are even run on the Telegram channel,” the Chief Minister said.
Baghel claimed that though everyone in Chhattisgarh knows who is the conspirator in the Mahadev app case, the ED has no clue about it.
“Everyone in Chhattisgarh knows that the main conspirator of this fake app is Ravi Uppal and Saurabh Chandrakar. But the ED has no clue about this. Such stories will come on November 17. Do watch and enjoy. The BJP knows it is losing, so it needs Chhattisgarh’s mines for its masters,” he said.
Baghel said, “Enjoy till November 17. It will not affect the elections. I have been saying continuously that the Bharatiya Janata Party is not contesting the polls themselves, they are contesting through the ED and IT.”
“When ED has released a press release to defame someone, then the Election Commission should take cognizance of this. The press release was issued by ED and the video was released by BJP…ED is BJP and BJP is ED,” he added.
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Updated: 06 Nov 2023, 04:17 PM IST