 "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: PTI")
Calling it "spineless", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that the Election Commission has "completely surrendered" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal's remarks came in response to reports of people allegedly visiting polling booths with party symbols and other campaigning material, and also campaigning on social media and TV on polling day.
"Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI," Kejriwal tweeted.
"This is a completely shameless and spineless Election Commission."
This is a completely shameless n spineless EC. https://t.co/i1eW9h2YVX
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2017
The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier repeatedly targeted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for acting on the directions of the Prime Minister's Office.
"Just like Modiji destroyed the RBI, he has also destroyed the Election Commission by appointing his cronies in the Commission," Kejriwal said.
Punjab began voting for all 117 assembly constituencies in the state at 8 am, while polling for Goa's 40 assembly seats got underway at 7 am.
Kejriwal also slammed Modi for his November 8 demonetisation move and said it had failed to curb black money.
"Modiji had said that the note ban will put an end to black money. But it is being openly distributed in Punjab and Goa. Then what was the use of the note ban," Kejriwal asked.
In a sudden move, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced that old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes would no longer be a legal tender.
The move, Modi had then said, would eliminate black money from the system apart from targeting counterfeit currency and terror funding.
