BJP candidate from Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency Joy Banerjee was on Friday caught on camera distributing money to villagers, His political opponents including Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Congress cried foul alleging violation of model code of conduct and threatened to lodge complaints with the Election Commission.

Banerjee, however, denied the charge that he was trying to influence the voters.

The incident occurred in Phulidanga village in Margram police station area. The place is near Tarapith temple.



Eyewitnesses said that at around 1.30 pm, the BJP leader paid a visit to the local mazar.

"After he came out of the mazar, Mr Banerjee was handing Rs 1000 notes to a person and also several notes of Rs 10 denomination to others," an

eyewitness said.

Defending himself, Banerjee said that when he visited the mazar, the caretaker told him that he should offer a chadar. "Since I had not brought a chadar with me I gave him money to offer one on my behalf," he added.

Trinamul Congress candidate from Birbhum Shatabdi Roy said that it proved that Mr Banerjee knew that he was going to lose and therefore he was trying to purchase vote. "This is an unlawful activity and we will surely bring it to the notice of the EC," she said. The Trinamul Congress Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal said he was lodging a complaint with the returning officer.

Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya said that no one was interested in knowing his intention behind distributing money. "People saw him distributing money which was illegal," he said.

CPI(M) central committee member Mohammad Salim said BJP was trying to create a wave for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the country by splurging crores. "The EC must take strong action because this practice was something alien to Bengal," he added.

Denying all charges, BJP president Rahul Sinha said that TMC and CPI(M) were trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. "He gave money to buy a chadar for mazar. This is no violation of code of conduct," he added.