TMC calls the arrest of its spokesperson Gokhale a violation of the law, meets the Election Commission
The TMC has alleged that Gokhale has been booked under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
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A five-member parliamentary delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday met the Chief Election Commissioner to raise the issue of alleged violation of the Representation of the People Act (RPA Act) in connection with the arrest of party spokesperson Saket Gokhale. TMC MP Saugata Ray informed after the meeting that we told the Chief Election Commissioner that Saket Gokhale has been wrongly charged under the Representation of the People Act (RPA Act), which is not attracted by his tweet. Hence, it is a case of harassment.
Before meeting there, the TMC said the delegation will have Lok Sabha members Saugata Roy and Kalyan Banerjee, Rajya Sabha members Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Mausam Noor and Derek O'Brien. Earlier, the party had sent a memorandum to the Election Commission, requesting it to immediately probe the action initiated by the Gujarat Police against Gokhale. Also, all his alleged physical and mental abuse was urged to stop.
TMC alleges violation of Representation of the People Act
TMC has alleged that Gokhale has been slapped with Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which pertains to promoting disharmony between classes in connection with elections. Gokhale was arrested after the Morbi (Gujarat) bridge collapse for a tweet about the Prime Minister's visit there. After this, the Press Information Bureau had termed the relevant information as fake.
The TMC alleged that Gokhale was arrested from Jaipur on December 6 by the Gujarat police without giving any information to the Rajasthan police. He was taken to Ahmedabad, where he was granted bail by a court on December 8, but was arrested again hours later in another case. Gokhale was later granted bail in the second case on December 9.
Morbi incident was alleged to defame PM Modi
On December 1, 2022, TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale claimed that Rs 30 crore was spent only for a few hours for PM Modi's visit to Morbi in Gujarat after the bridge collapse incident were spent. Quoting the so-called report, Gokhale had claimed that Rs 5.5 crore was purely for reception, event management and photography. He also claimed that Modi's event management and PR cost more than the lives of 135 people. Because the families of the 135 victims of the tragedy were given only Rs 4 lakh each as ex-gratia