Election Commission declares HP CM visit, political

New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) The Election Commission (EC) has held that the visit of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, along with his ministerial colleagues and a senior functionary of Congress Working Committee (CWC) to its office on October 15, cannot be said an official visit of non-political nature.

According to EC sources, the commission has directed the chief secretary of HP that the visit was political, therefore the state government should not defray the expenditure for the helicopter, used by the ministers, nor fill it from departmental funds .

The expenditure should recover from the users, otherwise it would be considered as violation of model code of conduct, sources added.

UNI