The Delhi High Court today refused to entertain a plea filed by BJP Odisha’s General Secretary, Jatin Mohanty against alleged misuse of public funds by Biju Janta dal (BJD) while advertising State welfare scheme using its party symbol Conch allotted by the Election Commission of India.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora asked the BJP leader to approach the Orissa High Court as everything, including advertisement of the welfare schemes happened there.
After Mohanty’s counsel withdrew the petition, the Delhi High Court granted him the liberty to file the writ petition in the court having jurisdiction. The Delhi High Court observed that it is the story in every state, adding that the Orissa High Court will decide in this matter as forum convenience is Orissa.
Consecutively, the Delhi High Court disposed of the plea which sought direction on the ECI to take appropriate legal action against BJD, the ruling party in Orissa, for violating the election symbols (reservation and allotment) order, 1968 and model code of conduct. The plea further sought to restrain the Orissa Government from making any further advertisement of State welfare schemes using the symbol Conch.
The plea stated that as per the information received by an RTI Activist, BJP has spent nearly Rs 378 crores in advertisements in the last five years and Rs.378.629 crore on self-propagation. It also mentioned that from the newspaper articles circulating every day, it appears that the respondent had other motives for advertising various State Government Welfare Scheme.
The plea asserted that similar advertisement has been widely reported in various other platforms like plying buses, social media, hoarding in State Government offices, Hospitals and Cities and Towns. The plea further questioned if such a consideration can be said to be in public interest.