No Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in election-bound states till Dec 5: Poll body

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday directed the central government not to undertake its proposed “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra” in five poll-bound states till December 5.

The Election Commission, in a letter addressed to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, asked the Centre to refrain from appointing “district rath prabharis” in the upcoming election-bound states and the Tapi constituency of Nagaland, where a by-election is slated to take place.

The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is government’s mega outreach programme on schemes and initiatives.

“It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that a letter has been circulated to the ministries for nomination of senior officers as ‘District Rath Praharis’ as special officers for the proposed ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ starting from 20th November, 2023,” the Commission said.

“Commission has directed that the aforesaid activities should not be taken in the constituencies where Model Code of Conduct is in force up till 5th December, 2023,” it added.

The Election Commission, earlier this month, announced the schedule for Assembly elections in five states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Centre made it clear that it would skip the yatra in the poll-bound states.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra, while speaking to reporters, disclosed that a choice has been made to eliminate the term ‘rath’ in the context of vehicles used for promoting government initiatives across 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and approximately 18,000 urban locations.

“There is no plan to start the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ in election-bound states where the model code of conduct is in place. In poll-bound states the yatra will start when the model code of conduct is lifted,” news agency PTI quoted Chandra as saying.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Yatra on the occasion of Birsa Munda Jayanti-Jan Jaati Gaurav Diwas by flagging of Information, Education, and Communication Vans.

Initially, the yatra was scheduled to start from the Khunti district of Jharkhand for the tribal districts, and the remaining districts across the country were planned to be covered between November 22 to January 25 2024.