New Delhi: The Election Commission, on Tuesday, blocked the release of a book 'Rafale- a scam that rocked the nation' on the Rafale deal citing Model Code of Conduct (MCC) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The book is  written by author S Vijayan.

According to the reports, The book was supposed to be released today by N Ram, a senior journalist who is the Chairman of The Hindu, and who has himself authored multiple news reports on the deal for French-made fighter jets.

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The organisers had sought permission from Kerala Samajam school for the release event. But the school said no, citing the Election Commission's objection. According to a report by the Times Now channel, the publishers decided to hold the release function in his office. However, the EC officials seized all the books from the publisher's office.

The publishers said that they plan to raise the matter with the Chief Election Commissioner and then approach the court challenging the EC decision.

The publisher said that the book does not aim to influence voters and is focused only on the Rafale deal. The publishers said that 148 copies of the book were seized by the EC officials. "The book sale is not permitted... The EC said that we should go to the court, take permission and then release the book. The book is about the deal and does not influence the voters," he said.

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The Congress party has long raised allegations of crony capitalism in the NDA government's Rafale deal It has claimed that the NDA's deal -- for fewer jets overall but more planes in a flyaway condition -- is costlier than an UPA-era deal, now scrapped. It also allegead that Reliance Defence, one of the jetmaker's offset partners, was chosen under pressure from the Centre.