| The Election Commission also issued a notice to the Rashtriya Janata Dal as to why it should not be derecognised for distribution of money by the Railway Minister to some people near Patna on Saturday. |
| The notice was issued under the symbols order, commission sources said. The party has been given time till December 24 for filing its reply to the show-cause notice, sources said. |
| Getting tough with him, the commission also directed the railway board not to run special trains or divert any trains for the December 23 rally of the RJD. It deputed a special observer to monitor the rally and despatched its adviser tomorrow to oversee the situation. |
| As a defiant Prasad justified his action, the three-member commission took suo motu notice of the media reports of his "serious" violation of the model code of conduct and discussed the issue for over an hour. |
| It later directed the Bihar chief electoral officer to file an FIR under Section 171(b) of the Indian Penal Code relating to the offence of bribery. The officer immediately filed a complaint with the Bihta police station. |
| The commission's decisions came on a day of hectic developments on the Prasad's front with the Opposition BJP raking up the issue in Parliament and demanding his removal from the Cabinet. |
| The issue found an echo in the Lok Sabha when the Opposition staged a walkout in protest against the blatant misuse of position by Prasad. In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition, Jaswant Singh said the matter should be referred to the ethics committee of Parliament. |
| In the Lok Sabha, VK Malhotra (BJP) demanded removal of Prasad from Cabinet and sought a statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Otherwise, Singh would be considered "guilty like Prasad", he said. |
| Noting that the Prime Minister had been saying that Prasad belonged to another party and not his to avoid action against him, Malhotra said: "But the Cabinet is one and a notice should be taken of such a behaviour". |
| He also said the Election Commission should take action against Prasad and should not stand by as a mute spectator. Prasad's defence that he was only giving money, not taking it cut no ice because a bribe-taker was as guilty in law as a bribe-giver, he said. Malhotra said the election Commission must intervene in the matter. |
| In Patna, Prasad had his own version of the event. "I frequently give money to poor Dalits, not only during the election time, for receiving their blessings," he said referring to a media report vis-à-vis distribution of money in a village on Saturday. The report showed him peeling off Rs 100 notes from a wad and handing them out to village women. |
| The model code of conduct came into force on Friday with the announcement of elections in three state including Bihar. The Election Commission has asked Prasad to explain why action should not be taken against him for violating the code of conduct. |
| Attacking the BJP for levelling, what he described as "false and frivolous" charges against him, Prasad said: "I strictly follow the election norms and I decided against inaugurating a railway platform just because the code of conduct came into force". |
| In lighter vein, he said: "Thank god, I have been shown giving money by the electronic media and not taking money". |
| Yadav also defended Union Minister Kanti Singh against whom a complaint case has been filed for allegedly attending a child marriage ceremony at the residence of a senior Rohtas district official. |
| The case had been filed against Singh and some local officials accusing them of being present at the wedding of Pinki Kumari (14) and Ashok Kumar Giri (15) at the official residence of Bikramganj SDO Mahipal Singh Yadav on December 12, in violation of the Child Marriage (Prevention) Act, 1929. |
| Observing in its notice to Prasad that the print and electronic media showed "you clearly on the video" and distributing money to several people, the commission said "such action of distributing money to people amounted to violation of model code of conduct. |
| "The commission is of the opinion you, as president of the RJD, have violated the model code by distributing money to the electorate of Bihar as reported in the media," the notice said. |
| Briefing reporters on the commission meeting, poll panel spokesman AN Jha said the commission had also directed that the state government not to misuse public transport, government machinery or buildings for the political activities associates with the rally. |
| No meeting should be called by the ministers in which election-related officers were involved or government machinery was used, he said. |
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