In a video which went viral on social media on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh state Congress President Kamal Nath is seen asking Muslim workers of his party to ensure "90 per cent polling" in the community-dominated booths to "save" the party from a "big loss".
The video purportedly shows Nath asking workers to take out the figures from last elections and do a "postmortem" as to why the polling percentage was only 50-60 per cent in the Muslim majority booths.
"Resolve today that you would ensure 80-90 per cent polling in your booths. If we don't get 90 per cent votes of the Muslim community, we may suffer a big loss," Nath, the MP Congress President, is seen telling the workers.
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"...You (Muslim Congress workers) will have to take care of your own society, not just for the Congress but for the whole state," Nath said.
The meeting where the video was shot apparently took place in October.
" If we cannot garner 90% muslim votes, then we would have to face difficulty in the elections," said Kamal Nath in the video.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed Congress of playing secular politics with a touch of communalism.
Watch: Viral video shows Kamal Nath seeking 90% Muslim votes
A BJP delegation comprising Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, party MPs S.S. Ahluwalia, Meenakshi Lekhi and Anil Baluni submitted their complaint to the Election Commission amid election campaign in Madhya Pradesh for November 28 polls.
In its complaint, the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged: "Nath in an address to a gathering appealed exclusively to Muslim voters to mobilise 90 per cent votes for the Congress in Muslim booths. It is tragic that Nath chose to even divide the booths along religious lines."
Madhya Pradesh will vote on November 28 in a single phase to elect a new Assembly.
( With inputs from agencies )
