Saffron colour ‘Namo’ food packets greet voters at Noida polling station; EC seeks report
A saffron coloured food packets from “Namo Foods” were reportedly distributed at pooling booth in Gautam Buddh Nagar or Noida on phase 1 polling day for Lok Sabha elections. Namo is widely-recognised initials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been used several times by BJP leaders.
Taking note on the matter, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer has asked for the report over the distribution of ‘Namo food packets’ from the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar to check whether it violates the model code of conduct.
After Namo Chai
— Atul (@secular_arrow) April 11, 2019
NAMO Cap
NAMO Merchandise
Namo TV
It is time for Namo food packete
That too in polling team's car pic.twitter.com/f6peG72xER
However, Gautam Buddh Nagar’s SSP rejected suggestions that the ‘Namo’ food packets had any link to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“There is some misinformation being spread that some policemen have been distributed food from a political party. This is absolutely wrong. At the local level some food packets were procured from Namo Food Shop and not from any political party. Some people are spreading wrong and politically motivated rumours. And there is no official order to procure food from any particular food outlet,” said SSP Vaibhav Krishna.
According to News18, the District Magistrate also said that it was “not a big issue.” “Will officials have food or not? Possibly the name of the shop was written over it. No other intention should be read into it," said the DM.
When reporters reached out to Namo Foods, a staffer said, “We did not supply any food packets. Our shop is closed since Wednesday evening. We don’t know about any order.”
First published: 11 April 2019, 13:31 IST