Mysore : “The Postal campaign launched by Congress party, by way of distributing booklets narrating the achievements of Congress candidate for Lok Sabha A.H. Vishwanath during his tenure as the MP is being done with permission from authorities concerned and everything is transparent,” clarified M. Lakshmana, Election Agent for the candidate.
In a press note issued here yesterday, Lakshmana stated that the party has remitted nearly Rs. 1.1 lakh as fees to the India Posts to deliver pamphlets to nearly 1,00,000 addressees in the city, and also declared the same with the Election Expenditure Observer.
“This is to ensure that a large segment of registered voters, who are left out in urban centres during campaigning when the focus is on rural areas and high-density areas, are also reached,” he said.
Confirming this, Jayalakshmipuram Post Office Post Master D.H. Bhagyalakshmi told SOM this morning that the Congress party had availed the Franking facility. “It is a method of indicating the payment of stamp fees for which no separate stamps are needed to be affixed on envelopes. This is usually adopted for Bulk postings — like magazines, letters from companies to shareholders, etc. Franking is done by machines installed at Post Offices,” said the Post Master and added that even the BJP and JD(S) candidates have been given permission by the District Electoral Officer for availing this facility.
“It is marked as Open Post and a nominal fee of Rs. 1.50 per post is charged whereas in the normal method, if the post is in a sealed envelope, stamps of Rs. 5 each will have to be affixed,” she said.
SOM clarifies
It may be recalled that yesterday’s Star of Mysore had carried an item titled ‘Post Office distributing Congress manifesto’ based on a report from Labour Lawyer Kokkengada C. Karumbaiah, who had personally met the Post Master of Jayalakshmipuram Post Office yesterday noon. Karumbaiah said that he had raised the objection as the Congress party’s booklet was given to him unsolicited and without his address on it.