Election Watch: BSNL writes to poll officer because Varun Gandhi hasn’t paid his phone bill

New Delhi: Among the entities who owe money to state-run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Varun Gandhi. Yes, you heard that right. After sending 'repeated reminders' to Gandhi, asking him to pay the bill, BSNL was forced to write a letter to the Pilibhit district election officer. In the letter, BSNL said that Gadhi owes Rs 38,616 against his Pilibhit office telephone number.

The letter, signed by BSNL's Account Officer in Pilibhit reads, "An amount of Rs 38616.00 is lying outstanding against telephone no. 05882-256525 provided for constituency office of Varun Gandhi, ex-MP Pilibhit during his previous term wef 2009 to 2014."

BSNL failed to recover dues despite reminders

The letter also mentions that the PSU failed to recover dues from Gandhi despite sending several reminders. "After a long chain of correspondences made by the Lok Sabha secretariat, it has been intimated that the due amount might be pertaining to BroadBand services which is required to be paid by the MP itself," the letter said.

The PSU has also alleged that the parliamentarian has filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Pilibhit but has not obtained a no-dues certificate from Pilibhit BSNL.

Varun's mother Maneka Gandhi is the sitting MP from Pilibhit. However, this time, the mother and the son have switched seats and Maneka will be contesting the elections from Sultanpur.