Senior BJP leader and Bihar Agriculture minister has landed himself in trouble after he visited a polling booth wearing lotus flower printed face mask while casting his vote. Returning Officer will file an FIR against Kumar for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), news agency ANI reported.
Kumar is the BJP candidate from Gaya town and he has been elected six times from the seat. As the polling got underway in Bihar, Kumar arrived on a bicycle at polling booth on Road No. 120 in Swarajpuri. He was seen wearing a yellow colour face mask with a print of lotus on it, despite the campaign ending 36-hours before the beginning of the polling.
Meanwhile, Kumar said his action was unintentional. "It was not my intention to generate a controversy and nobody pointed it out to me either. Since I was really busy, I didn't take off the mask when I went to vote," the minister was quoted as saying by IANS.
Bihar Chief Electoral Officer H. R. Srinivas said, action will be taken if anyone violates the model code of conduct. Srinivas said that the officials at Gaya are looking into the matter.
In Bihar, polling is being held at 71 seats in 16 districts in the first phase while two more phases are scheduled for November 3 and November 7.
Counting of votes will be held on November 10.
