Decode Politics: As searches of Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee’s choppers stir up a storm, what do EC rules say?

With barely three days to go for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, some Opposition leaders’ helicopters have been in the news as they have been searched by authorities in the last few days. Helicopters are often used by politicians to hop from one place to another during their poll campaigning.

The Opposition has alleged that these searches were conducted at the behest of the Centre to harass them, even as sources in the Election Commission (EC) say they have been carried out in accordance with the poll panel’s standard instructions aimed at preventing the transport of cash and freebies via airfields and helipads since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has been in force.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and its candidate from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, Abhishek Banerjee, said on Sunday that his chopper was searched by the Income Tax (I-T) department officials. The TMC alleged that the I-T officials found nothing but threatened to ground the chopper and forced Banerjee’s security personnel to delete the video of their search. The I-T officials have denied these charges.

On Monday, top Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s helicopter was searched by the EC’s flying squad officials upon its arrival in Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit back, saying the party has no problem with the poll panel checking the Wayanad MP’s helicopter, but there should be a level-playing field. “The EC must also check the choppers being used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah,” Ramesh told a press conference.

In the run-up to the announcement of the elections, the EC held meetings with various enforcement agencies, including those