EC notices to Cong, BJP over Rahul, Shah speeches

The Election Commission wrote separate letters to Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, asking them to comment on the complaints filed by the other side.

IMAGE: The EC has sought explanations from the BJP and the Congress over speeches made by their star campaigners Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

The commission exchanged the complaints between the two parties while seeking their responses.

The EC has sought formal responses from both the party presidents by 1 pm on Monday (November 18), while reminding them of the commission's earlier advisory to them during the Lok Sabha election to keep star campaigners and leaders under check so that public decorum is not flouted and the model code is followed in its letter and spirit during campaigning.

Top leaders of the two parties are campaigning in Jharkhand and Maharashtra for the ongoing assembly polls in the two states.

During the Lok Sabha election too, the poll authority had exchanged complaints filed by the two parties against the other's star campaigners, including Modi, Shah, Gandhi and Kharge.

According to one of the complaints filed by the Congress, at election rallies in Maharashtra's Nasik and Dhule on November 8, Modi made a series of "false, malicious, and slanderous statements targeting the Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies".

"In his statements, Shri Narendra Modi levelled allegations against prominent leaders of the INC and former prime ministers namely late Jawaharlal Nehru, late Indira Gandhi and late Rajiv Gandhi...," the Congress has told the EC.

It has also accused Shah of making a "slew of false, divisive, malicious and slanderous statements about the Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies" at a poll rally in Jharkhand's Dhanbad on November 12.

"During his speech, Mr Shah alleged that the INC and its allies were against Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC); promoting terrorism in the country," the Congress has told the poll panel.

The BJP has moved the EC against Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, for alleged poll code violations during a rally in Mumbai.

It has accused Gandhi of making false claims that big international brands are opening manufacturing plants in other states at the cost of Maharashtra.

The saffron party has said Gandhi's remarks were false and "totally unverified to true facts".

It has alleged that the Congress leader "distorted the truth by stating that Apple's iPhones and Boeing's airplanes are being manufactured in other Indian states at the expense of Maharashtra.

"Through his statements, Shri Rahul Gandhi has falsely accused other states of stealing and snatching alleged opportunities from the state of Maharashta," the BJP has told the EC.

"He (Gandhi) has been constantly making false, unsubstantiated, unverified and baseless allegations against the BJP. His nefarious attempt to create a rift between the citizens of India on the basis of place, caste and religion is solely aimed to achieve the electoral gains in the ongoing Assembly elections in the state of Maharashtra," it has alleged.