The Congress has approached the Election Commission yet again to complain against “very serious corrupt electoral practices” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought immediate action after its previous complaints were dismissed amid allegations of a miscarriage of justice.

In its petition submitted on Wednesday, the party pointed to the alleged misuse of the bureaucracy for electoral purposes while describing the “violation” as “outrageous”.

“So far, this election has recorded the most number of lapses, deliberately and maliciously, by a sitting Prime Minister in recorded history. What makes these actions all the more egregious is the complete lack of action by the commission,” the petition said.

On April 10, the party said, an online news portal had conducted an investigation that cited an email by a Niti Aayog officer addressed to the adviser to the administrator, Chandigarh, the chief secretary of Delhi and the chief secretary of Puducherry, among others.

The petition said the email “required all the above mentioned officers to provide the Prime Minister’s Office with ‘write-ups’ about destinations Narendra Modi was carrying/ had carried out rallies in to campaign for the general elections 2019”.

The petition added: “It also cited evidence of a similar request to a (district) collector in Maharashtra right before the Prime Minister addressed rallies in Wardha, Gondia and Latur. The collector… had sent a note to (the) Niti Aayog with a write-up on the district. The Prime Minister on numerous occasions has blatantly violated this commission’s orders. However, the above mentioned violation is not a mundane violation but an outrageous one and calls for immediate investigation by the relevant authorities.”

The Congress said this violated the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the commission’s directives.

Taking the help of government employees in electioneering is prohibited under law and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election had been set aside on similar grounds, before she imposed the Emergency.

“No previous Prime Minister has been so blatantly defiant in his or her approach to electoral laws designed to prevent misuse of government resources in campaigning,” the Congress petition said.

“We request the commission to utilise its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and pass immediate directions to the relevant authorities to prevent the Prime Minister from misusing any of the Government officials or agencies, including but not limited to the Niti Aayog, for campaign purposes.”