The Election Commission of India on Tuesday issued a notice to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar seeking an explanation for his comments against the Congress’ minimum income guarantee scheme, The Indian Express reported.

Unidentified officials told PTI that Kumar’s comments may have violated the Model Code of Conduct as he is part of the “bureaucratic executive” and this was not a case “of one politician attacking the other or one party attacking the other”. He has been asked to respond within two days.

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Kumar had on Monday claimed the Congress was “promising the moon to win elections”. The scheme will “bust fiscal balance”, Kumar said in a series of tweets. “True to its past record of promising the moon to win elections, Congress President announces a scheme that will bust fiscal [balance], create strong incentives against work and which will never be implemented.” Kumar had added that the real needs of people will remain unsatisfied.

Kumar had added: “Congress party promised #GaribiHatao in 1971, #OROP in 2008, #FoodSecurity in 2013 to win elections, but couldn’t fulfill any of those. The same unfortunate fate awaits the populist and opportunistic promise of #MinimumIncomeGuarantee.”

He had also made similar remarks to news agency ANI.

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NYAY: What we know about Rahul Gandhi’s Rs 6,000 per month income scheme for the poor

The Congress had on Monday promised to provide an income support of Rs 72,000 per annum to the poorest 20% families of the country.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi had first mentioned such a scheme in January and gave details on Monday. Five crore families and 25 crore people will benefit from the scheme, he said, adding that the money will be directly transferred to their bank accounts.

The scheme will be called “Nyoontama Aay Yojana, or NYAY”, Gandhi had said. The name means “minimum income scheme” in Hindi, while the acronym means “justice”.