New Delhi, 6 April 2014

The BJP may land in trouble if it releases its election manifesto on April 7 as it will be in violation of the model code of conduct, Election Commissioner HS Brahma said here Saturday.

“We will try to enforce the Representation of the People Act,” Brahma told reporters, making it clear that as the first phase of polls will be held April 7, a political party cannot announce anything related to elections 48 hours before the end of polling.

The election commissioner is heading a poll panel team on a two-day visit to Bihar to review preparations for the Lok Sabha election.

Brahma said the Representation of the People Act was passed by parliament and suggested that political parties should read it as it was important for the election.

He said the poll panel will take action if there is any violation of the act, and urged the media to inform people about it.

How can you call it late?

In a press conference at BJP headquarters when asked why BJP manifesto is late, BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi replied: How can you say that our manifesto is declared late? If we had declared some date of release of manifesto in advance, and suppose we failed to declare the manifesto on that particular date, then you can say our manifesto is late, but we had not declared any date. What we say is clear, the manifesto will be declared on April 7th.