Supreme Court orders Mayawati to reimburse money spent on elephant statues
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IBNS): The Supreme Court on Friday ordered former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati to reimburse the public money which was spent on installing several elephant statues in parks of Lucknow and Noida, media reports said.
With Elephant being the party symbol of the BSP, the top court said public money can't be used for installing one's own statue or to promote a political party.
Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, has been quoted by NDTV, "We are of the tentative view that Mayawati has to deposit the public money spent on her statues and party symbol to the state exchequer."
The case will next be heard on Apr 2 though the BSP wanted the date to be in May.
In a petition, which was filed by two advocates, Ravikant and Sukumar, in 2009, it was stated that then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's spending of crores of rupees on statues was irresponsible considering the number of people living below poverty line in the northern state.
Prior to the 2012 state elections, which was lost by Mayawati, the Election Commission had asked the BSP to cover all statues so that no party gets an added advantage in the polls.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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