Alleging that it was Congress party's arrogance at work, BJP said though use of chopper, the route to be taken and other details are "much-notified and announced well in advance", its senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi were prevented from using their helicopters.
"Modi's helicopter was to fly from Bangalore to Calicut but was not allowed to take-off for five and a half hours. As a result his public meetings were delayed and people had to wait for hours," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
She said the details of the helicopter trips to be made by Swaraj on Saturday and Modi later were provided before-hand, yet the authorities resorted to this measure.
"These are not instant or impromptu decisions. These attempts to stop us are a result of total frustration of the Congress.... It is preparing for a mass-scale defeat," Sitharaman said.
She asked the ruling party to adopt a "more democratic" approach to electioneering.
Swaraj had to face a similar problem on Saturday when a helicopter, which was to fly from Thiruvananthpuram to Kochi to take her further to some public meetings, was not allowed to fly as the Prime Minister was using the same air route.
She expressed her resentment through a tweet, saying this was "not fair".
Later today, the Election Commission clarified its stand on the issue.
"When we were told we immediately said there was no reason for stopping the chief minister. There is no need to stop a normal commercial flight. So he was allowed to take off," Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash told reporters.
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