The Election Commission of India on Monday said it will take a decision on the alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Tuesday.
Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar told reporters that there are three leaders against whom alleged complaints have been filed. “They are Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah,” he said. “The commission is going to meet tomorrow and take a call,” he said.
The prime minister and BJP president are accused of making references to the armed forces for “political propaganda”, which has been banned by the Election Commission. Modi also held a rally after casting his vote in Gujarat on April 23, which was a violation of the code. Gandhi is facing a complaint for his “chowkidar chor hai” slogan, NDTV reported.
The meeting will be held on the day when the Supreme Court will hear the Congress’ petition to direct the Election Commission to speed up the decision on alleged poll code violations by Modi and Shah.
“The meeting on April 30 was already been fixed by the commission,” Kumar said when asked about the top court’s hearing.
Earlier on Monday, president of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev approached the Supreme Court to expeditiously decide on the complaints filed against Modi and Shah, “without any delay or demur, and in any case not later than 24 hours from the [court’s] order”.
The first complaint against Modi was filed after a rally on April 9, in which he urged first-time voters to dedicate their votes to defence forces. Nine days later, the Election Commission had said it was still reviewing the speech.
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