Poll stars’ flight fight record

Ranchi: Several thousand feet above the ground, political parties fought another battle even before a single vote was cast in the Lok Sabha election.
The total number of trips with chartered flights used by politicians for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls touched 110 in the state. The number is almost two and a half times more than the figure of 2004 Lok Sabha poll when the state registered only 45 flights.
Sources at the air traffic control (ATC) of Birsa Munda Airport said that 110 flights were used between March 7 and April 24. “As of now, we have not been asked either by the Election Commission or the chief electoral office about the exact flight information used by all the political parties, including Congress, BJP, JVM, JMM and Ajsu,” said one of the ATC officials.
A rummage through the maintenance books roughly suggests that Congress leaders used it most, including party president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, with the latter using it for more than four occasions.
A smaller regional registered party like Ajsu had kept a small two-seat helicopter for 12 days. “We ended paying up about Rs 15 lakh to the chartered service provider and Airports Authority of India. The party’s central committee sponsored the flight expenditure incurred, which have been shown under individual expenditure details of the candidates contesting in six seats,” said a close aide of Ajsu president Sudesh Mahto.
Frequency of flight use increased during the last 15 days when 59 trips were recorded in a period of 15 days between April 10 and 24. Polls were held in two phases here on April 16 and 23.
09/05/09 Amit Gupta/The Telegraph

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2009