Mallikarjun Kharge's chopper checked in Bihar, Congress says EC 'targeting' Opposition

Congress Bihar unit chief spokesperson Rajesh Rathorre on Sunday accused the Election Commission officials of ‘malicious behaviour', and said they were 'targeting' opposition leaders, while leaders of the saffron party were permitted to move about "freely" after Congress Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge's helicopter was allegedly inspected in Samastipur of Bihar.

Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Rathorre posted in Hindi, “ After Mr. @RahulGandhi ji, now the search of the helicopter of @INCIndia President Mr. @kharge ji by the Election Commission and the policemen during the meeting in Samastipur, Bihar shows the malicious behavior of the Election Commission towards the opposition. This is the murder of democracy..”

The Congress leader said earlier the helicopter of Rahul Gandhi was checked in Kerala and, now, party president Kharge's has been checked in Samastipur.

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Sharing a video to the claim that the chief electoral officer of Bihar is herself monitoring the checking of Kharge's helicopter in Samastipur, Rathorre said, "The Election Commission (EC) should clarify whether such checking of choppers of Congress leaders is routine and whether similar checks were also conducted on top leaders of the NDA."

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“@ECISVEEP Release a video and tell the country which NDA leaders' helicopters were checked during the election campaign.

"The EC should make all such records public, otherwise it will be construed that it is only targeting opposition leaders to stop them, and is letting NDA leaders go freely," he said.

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Earlier on Saturday, the Congress president wrote to the election panel and expressed his surprise over the poll body reprimanding him for "obstructing" the ongoing Lok Sabha election

Kharge said, "On one hand, the Commission respects citizens' right to ask questions and, on the other hand, threatens citizens in the form of advice to exercise caution."