By IANS,
Kolkata : Short films featuring Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will be used to inspire people to vote in the April-May West Bengal assembly elections in case promos featuring Sourav Ganguly are not cleared by the Election Commission (EC), an official said Monday.
“The CEO (chief electoral officers) of Bihar and Jharkhand have provided us the promos featuring Dhoni and Abdul Kalam and we are considering to use them in case the EC does not allow us to use the promo featuring Sourav Ganguly,” said joint chief electoral officer Dibyendu Sarkar.
The promos of Dhoni and Kalam were used during Jharkhand and Bihar assembly polls respectively to generate awareness among the common people about voting.
Sarkar said Sourav Ganguly and percussionist Bikram Ghosh were selected by the EC to feature in a short film promoting interest among the people to vote but then the poll panel asked them not to use Ganguly’s promo till further orders.
“We came to know that Ganguly was keen to communicate with EC to know what decision it has taken on using his promo, but we are not in a position to say anything unless the EC issues further order,” he said.
Using of Ganguly’s promo was deferred after Trinamool Congress alleged that he maintains links with a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) minister.
Trinamool submitted a CD containing the recorded comments of both Ganguly and CPI-M minister Asok Bhattacharya, besides alleging that he was brand ambassador of several state departments including the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) of the Left Front government.
“After examining the CD and allegation levelled by the Trinamool against Ganguly, we sent our observation that there was no evidence of Ganguly maintaining links with CPI-M or any political leaders, to the EC office in Delhi to take the final decision,” said Sarkar.
He said there was no bar in using Bikram Ghosh’s promo, which is likely to be telecast from April 7 or 8.